Search

In this study a dehydration hydrothermal technique has been used to introduce a simple, environmentally friendly and facile method for manufacturing highly dispersed reduced graphene oxide for improving the thermo-physical and rheological properties of heat transfer liquids. The hydrothermal reduction of graphene oxide was verified by various characterizations methods such as UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, Zeta potential, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. A thorough investigation was conducted on the thermo-physical properties of reduced graphene oxide at concentrations of 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08 wt% under different temperatures. Significant improvements in electrical and thermal conductivity were obtained by adding a small amount of hydrothermal-assisted reduced graphene oxide (h-rGO) in the suspension. The viscosity and density remained relatively unchanged with the increase of concentrations where the pH was maintained within the desirable value, despite the fact that no additive was used during the reduction process. It is noteworthy to highlight that the h-rGO aqueous suspensions have shown Newtonian behavior. Results indicated that the h-rGO could be employed as a promising additive for conventional heat transfer liquids for different thermal applications.

Turbulent convection heat transfer of upward fluid flows in vertical annular channels with uniformly heated inner wall and adiabatic outer wall is investigated numerically. Two concentric geometries with outer-to-inner diameter ratios of 2.4 and 3 as well as two eccentric geometries with identical outer-to-inner diameter ratio of 2.4 and eccentricities of 0.25 and 0.5 are investigated. Heat transfer deterioration, similar to that of a circular pipe, is observed. The range of buoyancy parameter, over which deterioration is observed, is close to that of circular pipes. Moreover, it is observed that when the value of eccentricity increases, the deterioration phenomenon becomes less pronounced and recovery of heat transfer coefficient occurs earlier, i.e. at lower buoyancy parameters compared to concentric annuli.