Experimental investigation on boiling heat transfer characteristics of Al2O3-water nanofluids in swirl microchannels subjected to an acceleration force

Abstract Experiments were carried out to investigate the boiling heat transfer characteristics of Al 2 O 3 -water nanofluids in swirl microchannels under terrestrial gravity and acceleration fields. A centrifuge with a two-meter long rotational arm was used to simulate the acceleration magnitude up to 9 g and three various acceleration directions. Three test sections with different geometric parameters were applied. The volume concentration of Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles with an average diameter of 13 nm was varied from 0.07% to 0.1%. The mass flow rate and vapor quality were in ranges of 3–6 kg/h and 0.4–1.0%, respectively. The effects of the mass flow rate, microchannel aspect ratio, vapor quality, nanoparticle volume concentration, and acceleration direction and magnitude were analyzed in a systematic manner. Experimental results showed that the acceleration direction and magnitude had significant influences on the boiling heat transfer. The heat transfer under configuration C was found to be superior to that under configurations A and B. Moreover, the heat transfer coefficient increased with increases of the mass flow rate and the volume concentration and decreased with the aspect ratio.