Numerical Investigation on the Impingement of a Circular Jet of Nanofluids on a Circular Flat Plate

A numerical study was conducted to investigate and validate experimental convective heat transfer coefficient data associated with an Al2O3-H2O nanofluid through the use of an impingement jet on a flat, circular disk. It was observed that, in conjunction with experimental data, nanofluids provided increased local convective heat transfer coefficients in comparison to the base fluid. Nanofluid concentrations outlined in the experimental model, from 0.0198 to 0.0757 wt%, were investigated in a numerical model and resulting convective heat transfer coefficients were compared. In contrast to the experimental model, the maximum heat transfer enhancement occurred at the nanofluid concentration of 0.0757 wt%. In addition, several other models were tested with various Reynolds numbers and jet height-to-jet diameter ratios for further investigation along with discussion of sources of error. Overall, in comparison to experimental data, the lowest percentage errors achieved for the Reynolds numbers of 4245.7 and 8282 were 17.9% and 34.9%, respectively.