Accepted Manuscript

Investigating the convection heat transfer of Fe3O4 nanofluid in a porous metal

foam tube under constant magnetic field

Mohammad Amani, Mohammad Ameri, Alibakhsh Kasaeian

PII: S0894-1777(16)30359-4
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2016.12.003
Reference: ETF 8965

To appear in: Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

Received Date: 26 September 2016

Revised Date: 4 December 2016
Accepted Date: 5 December 2016

Please cite this article as: M. Amani, M. Ameri, A. Kasaeian, Investigating the convection heat transfer of Fe3O4
nanofluid in a porous metal foam tube under constant magnetic field, Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science
(2016), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2016.12.003

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Investigating the convection heat transfer of Fe3O4 nanofluid

in a porous metal foam tube under constant magnetic field

Mohammad Amani1, Mohammad Ameri1*, Alibakhsh Kasaeian2

1
Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2
Department of Renewable Energies Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences &

Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

*Corresponding author: Mohammad Ameri

Fax No: +9821-77311446, Tel. No: +9821-73932653

E-mail address: ameri_m@yahoo.com

1
Abstract

An experimental study is conducted to investigate the convection heat transfer of

Fe3O4/water nanofluid through a porous metal foam tube with uniform heat flux under the

influence of constant magnetic field. This magnetic field is generated by four identical

electromagnets. The electromagnets sequence is one of the most important parameters that

has considerable effect on the convection heat transfer in this subject. Therefore, four

different configurations of electromagnets are considered and the efficient arrangement is

obtained by a numerical simulation using single-phase method in order to reach the higher

heat transfer rate. Furthermore, the effects of Reynolds number, nanofluid weight fraction

and magnetic field intensity on the forced convection heat transfer in the porous metal foam

tube are examined under presence and absence of constant magnetic field. The experimental

results show that the application of Fe3O4/water nanofluid enhances the convection heat

transfer compared to DI-water. Additionally, implement of constant magnetic field leads to

improve the convection heat transfer of nanofluid through the porous metal foam tube. This

heat transfer improvement is more intensified in the lower fluid velocities as well as higher

nanoparticle weight fractions. The maximum of 23.4% heat transfer enhancement is

obtained by dispersion of 2% weight fraction of nanofluid inside the DI-water at Re = 200

under applied magnetic field of 200 G (0.02 T) intensity. A new correlation has been

proposed for the Nusselt number of Fe3O4/water nanofluid in terms of Reynolds number,

Prandtl number, nanoparticle weight fraction and magnetic field intensity which predicts the

experimental data accurately.

2
Keywords: Fe3O4 nanofluid; magnetic field; metal foam; forced convection

Nomenclature

L tube length (m)

D diameter (m)

A cross-sectional area (m2)

mass flow rate (kg/s)

V voltage (V)

I current (I)

T temperature ( )

heat flux (w/m2)

Q heat transfer rate (W)

P pressure (kPa)

v velocity (m/s)

specific heat (J/kg K)

x axial distance from the inlet of tube (m)

h convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

K permeability (m2)

Re Reynolds number

Pr Prandtl number

PPI pore per inch

B magnetic flux density (G or Tesla)

specific surface area (m2)

3
 interfacial heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

wt nanoparticle weight fraction

Mn magnet number

Greek letters

thermal diffusivity (m2/s)

nanoparticle volume fraction

density (kg/m3)

dynamic viscosity (Ps.s)

permeability of vacuum (A/m)

porosity

thermal conductivity (W/m K)

Subscripts

m bulk of fluid

s surface, solid

nf nanofluid

bf base fluid

p particle

w water

1. Introduction

The surface area and thermal conductivity of the working fluid are two substantial factors

which enhances convective heat transfer. Increasing the surface area is obtained by

embedding fins or porous structures like metal foams to the heat transfer medium and the

enhancement of thermal conductivity can be achieved by adding highly conductive

nanoparticles to the working fluid in order to create nanofluids.

4
A fluid which is prepared by a dispersion of metallic or non-metallic nanoparticles in the

size of less than 100 nm in a base liquid is called nanofluid. They demonstrate significant

heat transfer augmentation in comparison to conventional fluids. The dispersed

nanoparticles inside the base fluid lead to enhance the thermal conductivity of nanofluids

remarkably [13]. Magnetic nanofluids consist of colloidal magnetic nanoparticles dispersed

inside a base fluid which can be controlled under applied magnetic field. They usually

contain magnetic nanoparticles such as Fe3O4, Fe2O3, FeC, CoFe2O4, Co or Fe in an

appropriate carrier liquid. There are some experimental and numerical investigations in the

literature implemented in these two fields of heat transfer enhancement.

Among the variety of porous materials and structures, open-cell metal foams are comparably

modern and have been extensively used in industrial applications, especially in heat transfer

field, in recent years. Many researchers considered enhancing heat transfer by use of porous

media in different conditions [47]. Some of them focused on augmenting heat transfer by

using novel porous metal foams. Venugopal et al. [8] investigated a simple porous metal

foam and demonstrated that the heat transfer rate enhanced with decreasing porosity. Xu et

al. [9] studied the convection heat transfer of fluid in metal foam filled channel analytically.

Their results showed that increase of pore density and decrease of porosity led to

enhancement of convective heat transfer. Kamath et al. [10] showed that increase in the inlet

velocity of flow led to heat transfer enhancement and increase in the foam thickness had

negligible effect on the pressure loss in the fluid. In another study, Chen et al. [11] revealed

that the higher convection heat transfer in metal foam heat exchanger can be achieved at

lower Darcy number.

Nanofluids can flow through porous media due to small size of the particles. Forced

convection heat transfer of various nanofluids through porous media was investigated by

many researchers. Ghaziani and Hassanipour [12] and Hatami et al. [13] studied the heat

5
transfer of nanofluid through metal foam. They showed that the increase of Reynolds

number as well as nanofluid concentration led to the enhancement of heat transfer

performance. Siavashi et al. [14] studied the effect of Reynolds number, Darcy number and

porous media radius and position on heat transfer improvement of Al2 O3 nanofluid in a

metallic porous media. Hajipour and Molaei Dehkordi [15] achieved maximum value of

20% enhancement in heat transfer rate of alumina nanofluid inside a vertical channel

partially filled with metal foam at 0.3% nanoparticle volume fraction. Nazari et al. [16]

conducted an investigation on the convection heat transfer behavior and pressure loss of

alumina nanofluids through the porous metal foam tube with constant surface temperature.

The maximum increase in the Nusselt number and pressure drop were about 57% and 39%,

respectively at Re = 3704 for Al2O3 with volume fraction of 1.5%.

Furthermore, Li and Xuan [17] studied the influence of magnetic field intensity and

direction on heat transfer of nanofluid in an extremely low Reynolds numbers. According to

their results, applying a uniform magnetic field and negative gradient of magnetic field

decreased the convection heat transfer, while a positive gradient of magnetic field led to the

enhancement of heat transfer. According to the results from the work of Lajvardi et al. [18],

Azizian et al. [19], Esmaeili et al. [20] and Goshayeshi et al. [21,22], it was achieved that

applying constant magnetic field along with increasing the nanoparticle concentration

substantially enhances the heat transfer performance. Ghofrani et al. [23] and Yarahmadi et

al. [24] implemented an alternating magnetic field and observed that average heat transfer

increased by 27.6% and 19.8% respectively, under an alternating magnetic field.

Due to the lack of access to the fluid in porous media, magnetic field is able to provide a

potential of controlling the fluid motion in such medium. A few limited experimental and

numerical investigations have been implemented on the heat transfer enhancement of

magnetic nanofluid in a porous media under magnetic field. Servati et al. [25] studied the

6
effect of applying uniform magnetic field on the hydrodynamics and heat transfer

performance of Al2O3/water nanofluid in a porous medium filled channel using Lattice

Boltzmann Method (LBM). The results showed that by increasing the nanoparticle

concentration, the average velocity and temperature at the channel outlet increased

dramatically. In another study, Sheikhnejad et al. [26] simulated laminar forced convection

of magnetic nanofluid under magnetic field in a circular channel partially filled with porous

media. They revealed that the heat transfer enhanced more than 56% by the reduction of

Darcy number from 0.1 to 0.001 and raising the porous media radius ratio from 0.2 to 0.8.

It should be noted that no experimental investigation has been conducted thus far into the

convection heat transfer of Fe3O4/water nanofluids in a porous metal foam tube under

magnetic field and the scarcity of study in this subject is felt vigorously in the literature.

Therefore, this field of study can be taken into account as an open research subject which

needs more investigations.

The objective of this research is to implement an experimental investigation on convection

heat transfer of Fe3O4/water nanofluid in a metal foam tube under magnetic field. In order to

achieve the maximum heat transfer and find the best location of electromagnets, four

different configurations of electromagnets are considered and the efficient arrangement is

determined by the numerical analysis. Specifically, the convective heat transfer coefficients

of Fe3O4/water nanofluid are measured and presented at two nanoparticle weight fractions,

different Reynolds numbers and magnetic field intensities. The comparison of results and

those obtained from nanofluid flow under no magnetic field and DI-water is also presented.

Moreover, a new correlation is derived to estimate the Nusselt number as a function of

Reynolds number, Prandtl number, nanoparticle weight fraction and magnetic field intensity.

2. Numerical simulation

7
In order to obtain the best configuration of the experimental setup and find the optimal

location of electromagnets, a numerical simulation is conducted on the convection heat

transfer of Fe3O4/water nanofluid in an axisymmetric two-dimensional tube completely

filled with porous metal foam under constant magnetic field. Four appropriate configurations

of the electromagnets have been investigated at constant Reynolds number, nanoparticle

weight fraction and metal foam porosity (Re = 600, = 2 wt% and = 0.8) in the presence

of magnetic field with 100 and 200 G (0.01 and 0.02 T) intensity according to Fig. 1.

The fluid flow is considered laminar, incompressible and steady state. The fluid thermal

properties are assumed to be constant and the metal foam is considered to be isotropic and

homogeneous.

2.1. Governing equations

The momentum and energy equations are established with Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer

model and local thermal non-equilibrium equation (LTNE) which differentiates between the

temperature of fluid and solid phases. The conservation equations can be calculated as

follows.

Continuity equation:

(1)

Momentum equation:

(2)

Energy equation:

(3)

(4)

where nf and s subscripts refer to nanofluid phase and solid matrix, is density, is thermal

conductivity, is porosity, cp is specific heat, represents dynamic viscosity, v is velocity

and T and P denote temperature and pressure, respectively.

8
Xu et al. [9] and Dai et al. [27] represent the specific parameters of porous metal foam

including permeability K, inertia coefficient Cd, interfacial heat transfer coefficient hsf and

specific surface area asf.

The last term in Eq. (2) represents the Kelvin body force per unit volume applied to the

nanofluid [28]:

(5)

Where B and M are the flux density and magnetization. M can be calculated by the Eq. (6)

[29]:

(6)

where m represents the magnetic moment of a single particle, N is the number of particles in

unit volume and is the argument of Langevin function L() which is determined in Eq. (7).

(7)

where kB is Boltzmann constant and T represents the temperature.

Therefore, the Kelvin body force exerted to a single magnetic nanoparticle in unit volume is

determined as follows.

(8)

The volume of unit cell of Fe3O4 magnetite is approximately 7.310 -28 m3 and contains 8

molecules Fe3O4 with a magnetic moment of a single particle of 4B in which B is Bohr

magneton [30]. Therefore, Eq. (9) can be used for determination of the magnetic moment of

a single particle with volume of Vp as follows.

(9)

2.2. Numerical method and validation

A non-uniform, two-dimensional grid has been used in this numerical study. Since the

temperature and velocity gradients are considerable near the tube entrance and surface of

9
tube, finer grids are employed in these areas. The set of equations are discretized using

control volume technique. SIMPLE method is considered for velocitypressure coupling and

a second order upwind method is used for the diffusive and convective terms. The 30400

grid has been used in the simulation. However, regarding the grid independency approach, it

is observed that applying finer grids has not significant impact on the results. The

convergence criteria for continuity, momentum and energy equations are defined such that

the residuals become less than 10-5.

In order to evaluate the current nanofluid modeling, a comparison of numerical results and

the results of Tahir and Mital [31] is performed for Al2O3/water nanofluid through a similar

plain tube at Re = 750 and 4% nanoparticle volume fraction. The validity of numerical

simulation according to Tahir and Mital [31] is illustrated in Fig. 2.

3. Experimental Setup

3.1. Apparatus

A schematic view of the apparatus employed in this study is illustrated in Fig. 3. The setup

consists of two reservoirs, cooling unit, test section and a pump. The copper open-cell

metal foam is fabricated by employing the casting around space holder materials approach.

A hollow foam-like structure in the tube with porosity of 0.8 and pore density of 10 pore

per inch (PPI) is produced as the test section with inner diameter of 17 mm and length of 1

m. A detailed characteristics of the metal foam tube is listed in Table 1. The foam-like

structure of the tube is shown in Fig. 4. A wire heating element is wounded around the

metal foam tube in order to create a uniform heat ux and a glass wool layer is added to

reduce the radial heat dissipation. To avoid the distortion of the magnetic field in the tube,

the wire heating element contains no ferric material. The heat flux is adjusted by an AC

power supply. Temperature profile of the surface of the tube is determined by nine SMT-

10
 160 temperature sensors, evenly placed along the tube. Moreover, two temperature sensors

are fixed at tube inlet and outlet for measuring bulk temperatures. A rotameter is used after

the riser section to measure the ow rate. Cooling unit consists of a double-pipe heat

exchanger is used for cooling the working fluid in the setup.

To generate the magnetic eld, four electromagnets consist of U-shape zinc ferrite cores

are employed. A copper wire is wounded around the core to convert the U-shaped core

to magnet. The metal foam tube is placed between the two legs of U-shaped cores. The

magnetic eld intensity is controlled by a microcontroller programming and determined

by a Gauss meter.

3.2. Nanofluid synthesizing and properties

The water based magnetite nanofluid containing Fe3O4 nanoparticles is prepared according

to the method employed by Berger et al. [32]. Commonly, the stoichiometric values of

FeCl3.6H2O and FeCl2 .4H2O equivalent to the chemical composition of Fe 3O4 are

dissolved in DI-water, in which N2 gas is purged to prevent the solution from the

reactions with oxygen. Then, aqueous solution of ammonia is dropwisely added into the

mixture over a period of 5-10 min under the mechanical stirring. The black colored

precipitate is observed and extracted from the mixture using magnetic and centrifugal

separation. It is rinsed by DI-water and acetone. For achieving nanoparticle weight

fractions of 1% and 2%, the obtained solid particles are dispersed into DI-water. The

ultrasonic processing (150 W, 50 Hz) is done for 45 min to break down the

nanoparticles agglomeration and achieve stable nanofluid. The achieved nanofluid is

maintained in a homogeneous stable state for more than 24 h. Fig. 5 shows the prepared

nanofluids in this study.

The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of Fe3O4 nanoparticles is presented in Fig. 6 (a).

The agreement between the proposed pattern and the reference pattern of Fe3O4 [33,34]

11
demonstrates the purity of the nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

image of the prepared nanoparticles is shown in Fig. 6 (b). The mean particle dimension

is 30 nm. The specifications of nanoparticles are shown in Table 2.

Since the data analysis was obtained in weight percent, the conversion between weight and

volume fraction can be obtained using:

(10)

where wt represents the weight fraction of nanoparticles and p and f subscripts represent to

nanoparticle and base fluid, respectively.

The specific heat and bulk density of nanofluid is computed with respect to the conventional

mixture laws as follows.

(11)

(12)

It should be noted that since the thermal conductivity and viscosity of magnetic nanofluids

can be affected by the applied external magnetic field, the classical thermal conductivity and

viscosity models cannot predict those of Fe3O4/water nanofluid under magnetic field.

Therefore, Karimi et al. [35] and Wang et al. [36] proposed an empirical correlation to

predict the thermal conductivity and viscosity of Fe3O4/water nanofluid under the influence

of magnetic field respectively which are presented by the following equations.

(13)

(14)

where B represents the magnetic flux in G and T denotes the temperature in C. Bmin and Tmin

have the values of 100 G and 20 C respectively. bf is the thermal conductivity of base fluid

which is determined by Eq. (15) [35].

12
 (15)

3.3. Validation of the experimental results

For assessment of the reliability of the experiments, the local Nusselt number of DI-water

through the similar plain tube is compared with Shah equation presented in Eq. (16) at

constant Reynolds number [37]. Fig. 7 presents a good agreement between the experimental

data with those calculated by Shah equation.

(16)

3.4. Data analysis

The local heat transfer coefcient (h) required for the analysis of the heat transfer

performance is determined by Eq. (17).

(17)

where and are the bulk temperature of fluid and the surface temperature of tube,

respectively, q" represents the constant heat flux calculated by Eq. (18) and x denotes the

axial distance from the tube inlet.

(18)

where L, D and Q are the tube length, tube diameter and the rate of heat transfer,

respectively. Q can be calculated as follow.

(19)

where Q1 and Q2 are the rate of heat transfer from the AC power supply and those measured

from the working fluid.

(20)

(21)

13
where V is the voltage and I is the wire heating element current. Tm,out and Tm,in are the outlet

and inlet bulk temperatures, respectively.

It is observed that heat transfer rate from the AC power supply obtained from Eq. (20) and

that determined from experimental data using Eq. (21) have different values which might

due to heat dissipation during the experiments. Therefore, in order to reduce the error

associated with heat flux, the mean arithmetic of Q1 and Q2 is considered.

Furthermore, Eq. (22) is used to compute the average fluid bulk temperature.

(22)

Finally, the Nusselt number can be obtained by Eq. (23).

(23)

3.5. Uncertainty Analysis

An uncertainty analysis is used to evaluate the errors related to the experiments (i.e. heat

flux and Nusselt number). The uncertainty of the heat flux and Nusselt number are

calculated as follows.

(24)

(25)

The uncertainties of measurements for the parameters involved in this analysis are listed in

Table 3. The average uncertainty in calculation of heat flux and Nusselt number are 1.6%

and 1.7%, respectively.

4. Results and discussion

The appropriate location of the electromagnets has been investigated numerically prior to the

heat transfer experiments in order to maximize the convection heat transfer. After finding

14
the best location of electromagnets and validation of the experimental results with DI-water,

experiments are performed for five Reynolds numbers ranging from 200 to 1000 and

nanoparticle weight fractions of 1% and 2% in the absence and presence of magnetic field

with 100 and 200 G (0.01 and 0.02 T) intensity.

4.1. Magnetic field arrangement

The effect of electromagnets locations on convective heat transfer is investigated by

considering the arrangements I, II, III, and IV shown in Fig. 1. The variation of the local

heat transfer coefficients obtained in these four configurations is provided at Re = 600 and

= 2 wt% in the presence of constant magnetic field with 100 and 200 G (0.01 and 0.02 T)

intensity in Fig. 8. The simulation results show that the heat transfer coefficient in

arrangement I, where the distance between the electromagnets is shorter and locating near

the entrance of tube, is greater than three other arrangements. It is observed that the

nanofluid heat transfer increases when it enters the magnetic field domain, while the

convection heat transfer decreases after passing this area. This enhancement corroborate that

applying magnetic field leads to reduction in thermal boundary layer thickness. However,

the thermal boundary layer develops again after eliminating the magnetic field, resulting in

lower increase of heat transfer rate. The heat transfer improvement due to presence of 200 G

(0.02 T) magnetic field for arrangements I, II, III and IV are obtained 5.5%, 3.4%, 3.5% and

4.6% respectively. Furthermore, the best configuration of electromagnets is obtained using

arrangement I led to a maximum of 5.5% and 3.5% improvement in convective heat transfer

under applying magnetic field with 100 and 200 G (0.01 and 0.02 T) intensity respectively.

Consequently, arrangement I is employed in all experiments.

4.2. Convection heat transfer without magnetic field applied

The effect of Reynolds number on average Nusselt number of Fe3O4/water nanofluids along

with DI-water with no magnetic field is shown in Fig. 9. It is seen that increase of Reynolds

15
number increases the average heat transfer coefficient. For instance, at the nanofluid weight

fraction of 1% and Re = 200, an improvement of 8.0% compared to DI-water in the heat

transfer is obtained. This value for weight fraction of 1% and Re = 1000 jumps to 12.3%.

Furthermore, increment of nanoparticle weight fraction leads to enhancement of heat

transfer. A heat transfer improvement of 9.3% and 16.8% is observed at the Reynolds

number of 600 for nanoparticle weight fractions of 1% and 2% respectively in comparison to

DI-water. It should be noted that further increasing the nanofluid concentration, will not lead

to monotonous enhancement in the heat transfer. At high concentrations, the probability of

sedimentation in the metal foam tube increases and a portion of nanoparticles in the center

of the tube may not receive much heat, which results in decreasing the participation of

nanoparticles in the heat transfer process. Therefore, further increase in nanofluid

concentration is not an appropriate approach to improve the heat transfer performance. On

the other hand, inserting metal foam as a porous media in the tube can considerably enhance

the heat transfer due to the fact that it involves all nanoparticles in heat transfer process

because of flow circulation.

It is observed that the effect of nanoparticle weight fraction on heat transfer improvement is

more profound at high Reynolds numbers. It is due to the better agitation of fluid layers,

increase in Brownian motion, non-uniformity of nanoparticle concentrations, and greater

possibility for nanoparticles migration at higher velocities. Consequently, the thermal

entrance length will increase over the tube with increment of Reynolds number. The increase

in heat transfer coefficient is superior at short axial distance from the entrance of the tube in

comparison with larger distances.

Fig. 10 shows the effect of axial distance from the entrance of the tube on the local Nusselt

number at two different Reynolds numbers. As Fig. 10 depicts, the increase in the

nanoparticle weight fraction leads to increase in the local Nusselt number thorough the metal

16
foam tube. Moreover, the heat transfer coefficient decreases with increasing the axial

distance due to the increase in the thermal boundary layer and eventually it tends to a

constant value corresponding thermally fully developed.

It is concluded that the heat transfer augmentation due to addition of high conductive

nanoparticles to the base fluid is a key parameter in heat transfer enhancement. There are

two mechanisms for the thermal conductivity enhancement of the magnetic nanofluids, i.e.

particle clustering and Brownian motion [38]. The aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles

into linear chains or dispersed clusters have a considerable impact on the nanofluid

properties. A highly conductive path is provided by the nanoparticle clusters in the

nanofluid. Therefore, it extends the heat transfer since the solid particles conduct the heat

flow much faster in comparison with the base fluid. Furthermore, the Brownian motion can

improve the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid using the indirect method due to the

micro-convection of fluid and the direct method due to movement of nanoparticles. It is

expected that by improving the effective thermal conductivity, the rate of heat diffusion

increases.

4.3. Convection heat transfer under magnetic field

The local Nusselt number are determined under the application of the magnetic field with

intensities of 100 and 200 G (0.01 and 0.02 T). Fig. 11 presents the average Nusselt number

versus Reynolds number for DI-water and Fe3O4/water nanofluids under the magnetic field.

It clearly reveals that the Nusselt number improves with increasing the magnetic field

intensity. Applying the magnetic field with 100 G (0.01 T) intensity, enhances the heat

transfer, reaching to a maximum of 5.9%, compared to the no magnetic field case using

Fe3O4/water nanofluid with = 2 wt% at Re = 200, while, it can be augmented up to 8.5%

under the magnetic field intensity of 200 G (0.02 T). The application of magnetic field

compels the nanoparticles to migrate toward the heated surface of the tube. In the absence of

17
magnetic field, the nanoparticles distribution is disordered and the thermal conductivity of

nanofluid is isotropic [39]. On the other hand, in the presence of magnetic field, the

nanoparticles tend to align in the magnetic field direction and lead to anisotropy of thermal

conductivity. Due to the high conductivity of nanoparticles, the chaotic migration,

fluctuation and dispersion of nanoparticles near the uniformly heated surface of the tube, the

convective heat transfer enhancement occurs.

It is determined that the effect of magnetic field on the heat transfer is stronger at low

Reynolds numbers. In this condition, the magnetic forces will increase which lead to

attracting the nanoparticles toward the heated surface due to higher nanoparticles residence

time. Additionally, it is concluded that the maximum growth of heat transfer decreases from

8.5% to 5.9% by a 50% reduction in the magnetic field intensity. It is because of less

variations in thermal boundary layer thickness and also, decreasing the forces applied on the

nanoparticles.

The variation of local Nusselt number with the axial distance for the Fe3O4/water nanofluid

at two Reynolds numbers, 200 and 1000, with magnetic field intensities, 100 and 200 G

(0.01 and 0.02 T), are shown in Figs. 12 and 13. It is seen that the local Nusselt number

initially increases under magnetic field until a maximum value is reached (T3 sensor) and

then begins to decrease tending to the value of heat transfer coefficient at the end of the tube

under no magnetic field. The migration of nanoparticles and their movement toward the

surface of tube decreases the boundary layer thickness which results in heat transfer

improvement. The increase of heat transfer as the nanofluid flows along the applying

magnetic field region, is due to considerable decrease in the thermal boundary layer

thickness. However, beyond the applied magnetic field region, the reduction of heat transfer

can be referred to the lack of magnetic forces which leads to higher boundary layer

thickness.

18
 Heat transfer improvement under magnetic field due to the use of Fe3O4/water nanofluid

can be defined as Nunf / Nuw, where Nunf and Nuw represents the average Nusselt number

for the nanofluid and DI-water, respectively. Fig. 14 shows the variation of heat transfer

performance under the influence of magnetic field for two nanoparticle weight fractions

and magnetic field intensities. As discussed previously, it is achieved that the effect of

nanoparticle weight fraction on convection heat transfer performance is stronger in high

Reynolds numbers and also, applying magnetic field plays a substantial role at low

Reynolds numbers. The peculiar behavior of diagrams in Fig. 14 reveals the

aforementioned effects. The maximum of 23.4% improvement in heat transfer performance

is achieved by dispersion of 2 wt% Fe3O4 nanoparticles inside DI-water at Re = 200 under

magnetic field with 200 G (0.02 T) intensity. In addition, the pressure drop of the nanofluid

with different concentrations in the absence and presence of magnetic field is presented in

Appendix A.

It should be noted that (1) a chain like cluster of Fe 3O4 nanoparticles, (2) interaction between

the nanofluid flow and accumulation of nanoparticles at the surface of the tube adjacent to

each magnet and (3) the ratio of magnetic to inertia forces exerting on the nanofluid, are

three effective mechanisms which considerably affects the heat transfer performance in the

nanofluid under magnetic field [40].

4.4. Predictive correlation for Nusselt number

In order to consider the magnetic field intensity, a dimensionless magnet number (Mn) is

defined as follows.

(26)

where B is the magnetic field intensity in G, 0 represents the permeability of vacuum with

the value of 410-7 Tm/A and nf denotes thermal diffusivity of nanofluid.

19
Therefore, a new correlation is derived based on the experimental observations in order to

predict the Nusselt number of Fe3O4/water nanofluid flowing through the porous metal foam

with the porosity of 0.8 under constant magnetic field. This correlation is presented as

below.

(27)

Fig. 15 shows the deviation of experimental data and the results which have been calculated

by the proposed correlation. It can be inferred that the values of Nusselt number evaluated

with Eq. (27) are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. The Average

Absolute Relative Error (AARE) and R2 values of derived correlation are 1.62% and 0.987

respectively.

5. Conclusion

In this research, the effect of constant magnetic field on convection heat transfer of

Fe3O4/water nanofluid in a uniformly heated metal foam tube is investigated. The optimum

arrangement of the electromagnets along the tube is characterized by numerical analysis

using single-phase nanofluid modeling in order to maximize the heat transfer performance.

Arrangement I (see Fig. 1) is obtained as the best setup configuration. It is observed that the

effect of constant magnetic field is more noticeable near the entrance of tube.

Furthermore, the influence of magnetic field on heat transfer performance is experimentally

investigated and the effect of the Fe3O4 nanoparticle weight fraction, Reynolds numbers as

well as different magnetic field intensities has been studied. The results are presented below.

Under no magnetic field, the convection heat transfer of Fe3O4/water nanofluids are

higher than those in DI-water.

20
 Increment of nanoparticle weight fraction leads to enhancement of heat transfer. The

heat transfer enhancement of 9.3% and 16.8% has been achieved at the Reynolds number of

600 for 1% and 2% nanoparticle weight fractions respectively, compared to DI-water.

The effect of nanoparticle weight fraction on heat transfer performance is stronger in

high Reynolds numbers.

The higher magnetic field intensity, the higher average Nusselt number is achieved.

Applying magnetic field with 100 G (0.01 T) intensity, enhances the heat transfer only up to

a maximum of 5.9%, compared to the absence of magnetic field using nanofluid with = 2

wt% at Re = 200. While, it can be augments up to 8.5% under magnetic field intensity of

200 G (0.02 T).

The application of magnetic field compels the nanoparticles to migrate toward the

heated surface of the tube. Due to high conductivity of nanoparticles, the chaotic migration,

fluctuation and dispersion of nanoparticles near the uniformly heated surface of the tube,

convection heat transfer enhancement occurs.

Applying magnetic field has profound impact on heat transfer performance at low

Reynolds numbers.

The maximum of 23.4% improvement in heat transfer performance is obtained by

dispersion of 2 wt% nanofluid inside the DI-water at Re = 200 under magnetic field with

200 G (0.02 T) intensity.

A new correlation is derived to estimate the Nusselt number as a function of

Reynolds number, Prandtl number, nanoparticle weight fraction and magnetic field intensity

with AARE and R2 values of 1.62% and 0.987.

Appendix A

The pressure drop of the water based Fe3O4 nanofluid is listed in Table A1.

21
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Figure Captions:

Fig. 1 Different configurations of electromagnets considered in the numerical simulation

Fig. 2 Comparison of simulation results with those obtained by Tahir and Mital for Re = 750

and = 4 vol%.

Fig. 3 The schematic of the apparatus

Fig. 4 Test section and porous metal foam inside the tube

Fig. 5 Prepared Fe3O4/water nanofluid with 1 wt% and 2 wt% concentrations

Fig. 6 (a) XRD and (b) SEM image of Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Fig. 7 Comparison of the local Nusselt number with those calculated by Shah equation at Re

= 400

Fig. 8 Local heat transfer coefficient versus the tube length for different electromagnets

locations (a) 100 G (0.01 T) (b) 200 G (0.02 T)

Fig. 9 Experimental average Nusselt number versus Reynolds number for DI-water and

Fe3O4/water nanofluids

26
Fig. 10 Local heat transfer coefficient versus the axial distance for water and Fe3O4/water

nanofluids with no magnetic field at (a) Re = 200 and (b) Re = 1000

Fig. 11 Variation of Nusselt number versus Reynolds number under different magnetic

fields for DI-water and Fe3O4/water nanofluid with = 2 wt%

Fig. 12 Local heat transfer coefficient versus axial distance for nanofluids with different

weight fractions at Re = 200 in presence of magnetic field with (a) 100 G (0.01 T) (b) 200 G

(0.02 T) intensity

Fig. 13 Local Nusselt number versus axial distance for nanofluids with different weight

fractions at Re = 1000 in presence of magnetic field with (a) 100 G (0.01 T) (b) 200 G (0.02

T) intensity

Fig. 14 Heat transfer enhancement versus Reynolds number for two nanoparticle weight

fractions and magnetic field intensities

Fig. 15 Comparison between experimental results and those calculated by Eq. (27)

Table Captions:

Table 1. Specifications of metal foam tube used in this study

Table 2. Thermal properties of nanoparticle

Table 3. Uncertainties of instruments and properties

Table A1. The pressure drop of the nanofluid in the metal foam tube in kPa

27
Figures:

Fig. 1 Different configurations of electromagnets considered in the numerical simulation

28
 2000
Present simulation
1800
Tahir and Mita [33]
1600
1400
h (W/ m K)

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x/L

Fig. 2 Comparison of simulation results with those obtained by Tahir and Mital for Re = 750

and = 4 vol%

29
Fig. 3 The schematic of the apparatus

30
Fig. 4 Test section and porous metal foam inside the tube

31
Fig. 5 Prepared Fe3O4/water nanofluid with 1 wt% and 2 wt% concentrations

32
Fig. 6 (a) XRD and (b) SEM image of Fe3O4 nanoparticles

33
 25
Shah Equation
Experimental data
20

Nu15

10

0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
x(m)

Fig. 7 Comparison of the local Nusselt number with those calculated by Shah equation at Re

= 400

34
 850
(a) No magnetic field
800
Arrangement I
750 Arrangment II
700 Arrangement III
650 Arrangement IV
h(W/m K) 600
550
500
450
400
350
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

850
(b) No magnetic field
800
Arrangement I
750
Arrangment II
700
Arrangement III
650
h(W/m K)

Arrangement IV
600
550
500
450
400
350
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

Fig. 8 Local heat transfer coefficient versus the tube length for different electromagnets

locations (a) 100 G (0.01 T) (b) 200 G (0.02 T)

35
 18
DI water
17
= 1 wt%
16 = 2 wt%
15
14

Nu
13
12
11
10
9
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Re

Fig. 9 Experimental average Nusselt number versus Reynolds number for DI-water and

Fe3O4/water nanofluids

36
 15
(a) DI-water
14 = 1 wt%
13 = 2 wt%

12

Nu
11
10
9
8
7
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

32
(b) DI-water
= 1 wt%
27
= 2 wt%

22
Nu

17

12

7
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

Fig. 10 Local Nusselt number versus the axial distance for water and Fe3O4/water nanofluids

with no magnetic field at (a) Re = 200 and (b) Re = 1000

37
 20
DI-water
18 B=0G
B = 100 G
16 B = 200 G

Nu 14

12

10

8
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Re

Fig. 11 Variation of Nusselt number versus Reynolds number under different magnetic

fields for DI-water and Fe3O4/water nanofluid with = 2 wt%

38
 15
14 (a) DI-water

13 = 1 wt%

12 = 2 wt%

11
Nu 10
9
8
7
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

15
14
(b) DI-water
= 1 wt%
13
= 2 wt%
12
11
Nu

10
9
8
7
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

Fig. 12 Local Nusselt number versus axial distance for nanofluids with different weight

fractions at Re = 200 in presence of magnetic field with (a) 100 G (0.01 T) (b) 200 G (0.02

T) intensity

39
 30
28 (a) DI-water
26 = 1 wt%
24 = 2 wt%
22

Nu
20
18
16
14
12
10
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

30
28 (b) DI-water
26 = 1 wt%
24 = 2 wt%
22
20
Nu

18
16
14
12
10
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x(m)

Fig. 13 Local Nusselt number versus axial distance for nanofluids with different weight

fractions at Re = 1000 in presence of magnetic field with (a) 100 G (0.01 T) (b) 200 G (0.02

T) intensity

40
 1.3
B = 0 G , = 1 wt% B = 0 G , = 2 wt%
B = 100 G , = 1 wt% B = 100 G , = 2 wt%
1.25 B = 200 G , = 1 wt% B = 200 G , = 2 wt%
h_nf/h_w

1.2

1.15

1.1

1.05
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Re

Fig. 14 Heat transfer enhancement versus Reynolds number for two nanoparticle weight

fractions and magnetic field intensities

41
 18
Nu (Empirical correlation)
16

14

12

10

8
8 10 12 14 16 18
Nu (Experimental data)

Fig. 15 Comparison between experimental results and those calculated by Eq. (27)

42
Tables:

Table 1. Specifications of metal foam tube used in this study

Porosity 0.8
Pore density (PPI) 10
Average fiber diameter (df) 0.45 mm
Average pore diameter (dp) 2.6 mm
Permeability 5.110-8 m2

43
 Table 2. Thermal properties of nanoparticle

Density Specific heat Thermal conductivity

3
(kg/m ) (J/kg K) (W/m K)
Fe3o4 nanoparticle 5200 670 80

44
Table 3. Uncertainties of instruments and properties

Variable Uncertainty (%)

Voltage, 0.45
Current, 0.77
Temperature, 0.47
Mass flow rate, 1.25

45
 Table A1. The pressure drop of the nanofluid in the metal foam tube in kPa

B=0G B = 100 G B = 200 G

Re DI-water
1 wt% 2 wt% 1 wt% 2 wt% 1 wt% 2 wt%
200 107.9 113.8 119.7 115.7 125.7 116.9 129.6
400 235.4 247.3 259.4 249.4 263.3 252.3 269.4
600 343.3 366.1 379.1 371.0 385.1 376.1 389.3
800 461.1 484.7 508.7 489.8 516.7 495.2 528.5
1000 559.2 593.5 628.4 601.5 638.4 606.1 649.1

46
Highlights:

Experiments are performed with Fe3O4/water nanofluid through metal foam tube.

The best location of electromagnets is determined numerically.

Effects of concentration, Reynolds number and magnetic field intensity are

examined.

The effect of magnetic field is more noticeable near the entrance of tube.

New correlation for prediction of the Nusselt number is proposed.

47