Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2020) 135: 217
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00208-y

Regular Article

Modeling of heat transfer performance of carbon nanotube nanofluid in a tube with fixed wall temperature by using ANN–GA

¹ Department of Chemistry, Islamic Azad University Central Tehran (IAUCT), Tehran, Iran
² Department of Renewable Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
³ Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University (PNU), P.O.Box 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran
⁴ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
⁶ Institute of Thermal Science and Power Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, China

^* e-mail: mohammadhosein.ahmadi@gmail.com
^** e-mail: mhosein.ahmadi@shahroodut.ac.ir
^*** e-mail: lingenchen@hotmail.com
^**** e-mail: lgchenna@yahoo.com

Received: 12 September 2019
Accepted: 12 January 2020
Published online: 3 February 2020

Abstract

In this research, the heat transfer performance of carbon nanotube (CNT)/water nanofluid in a horizontal tube with a fixed wall temperature with a turbulent regime flow condition is experimentally analyzed. The heat transfer performance is monitored through an evaluation of the heat transfer coefficient and friction factor. To perform this investigation, the affecting performance variables of nanofluid such as volume concentration, twist ratio, and Reynolds number are defined and considered within certain ranges of 0.2–1.2%, 2–8, and 4000–20,000, respectively. It is monitored that insertion of nanoparticles of CNT increases the heat transfer coefficient in comparison with the water and its value is also boosted in higher concentrations and Reynolds number. It is found that simultaneous utilization of nanofluids and twisted tape influences the heat transfer more efficient than employing either nanofluid or twisted tape, individually. In overall, under the designed circumstances, the highest thermal performance factor is obtained at CNT concentration of 1.2% and twist ratio of 2.