On the Effect of Graphene Nanoplatelets on Water–Graphene Nanofluid Thermal Conductivity, Viscosity, and Heat Transfer Under Laminar External Flow Conditions

Abstract

Experiments were conducted with graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) to investigate the relative benefit of the thermal conductivity increase in relationship to the potential detriment of increased viscosity. The maximum enhancement ratio for GNP nanofluid thermal conductivity over water was determined to be 1.43 at a volume fraction of 0.014. Based on GNP aspect ratios, the differential effective medium model is shown to describe the experimental results of this study when using a fitted interfacial resistance value of 6 × 10−8 m2 K W−1. The viscosity model of Einstein provided close agreement between measured and predicted values when the effects of temperature were included and the intrinsic viscosity model term was adjusted to a value of 2151 representative for GNP. Heat transfer in external flows in laminar regime is predicted to decrease for GNP nanofluids when compared to water alone.