INTRODUCING A CORRELATION FOR AL2O3-WATER NANOFLUID VISCOSITY

Nowadays, the penetration rate of Nano-science in many technologies is undeniable and growing. One of the most important application of Nano-science is in fluid flow which is named Nanofluids. Regarding to the significance of nanofluids in different sciences, the prediction of its properties such as viscosity, thermal conductivity, and etc. have been emphasized. High viscose fluids in oil industry may cause huge amount of energy loss. To overcome this drawback nanofluid can be applied widely in order to reduce the viscosity and saving pumping required energy. To now, many empirical correlations were suggested for prediction of nanofluids viscosity. Most of correlations in this area were obtained as a function of volume fraction of nanoparticles in solution, temperature, base fluid viscosity, and size of particles. In this research, 646 experimental data in Al2O3-Water nanofluid system were used to compare the accuracy of existing correlations. Then, a new empirical correlation was conducted by combining two of the best correlations (Maiga et al. correlation (R2=0.8461), and Khanafer and Vafai correlation (R2=0.9311)). According to the results, the new correlation has a highest accuracy for prediction of nanofluid viscosity in comparison of other correlations (R2=0.9528).

Keywords:

Viscosity of nanofluids , Empirical correlation , Al2O3-Water