Experimental Measurements of Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity of Single Layer Graphene Based DI-water Nanofluid

Abstract

Experimental measurements of viscosity and thermal conductivity of single layer of graphene based DI-water nanofluid are performed as a function of concentrations (0.1-1wt%) and temperatures between (5 to 35ºC). The result reveals that the thermal conductivity of GNPs nanofluids was increased with increasing the nanoparticle weight fraction concentration and temperature, while the maximum enhancement was about 22% for concentration of 1 wt.% at 35ºC. These experimental results were compared with some theoretical models and a good agreement between Nan’s model and the experimental results was observed. The viscosity of the graphene nanofluid displays Newtonian and Non-Newtonian behaviors with respect to nanoparticles concentration and temperature, and about 111% enhancement was obtained compared to the base fluid with GNPs weight fraction concentration of 1wt.% at 35ºC. Based on the experimental data, correlations were developed for predicting thermophysical properties of the GNPs based DI-water nanofluid.