International Journal of
Advanced Multidisciplinary Application

Volume 3, Issue 6

• Author(s)Vikram Nath Tiwari, Sunita Devi Chauhan, Deepak Ranjan Mohanty
• AffiliationDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana, India Department of Chemical Engineering, Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla, Odisha, India Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
• Page No.89-96
• Volume, Issue & YearVolume 3, Issue 6, June 2026
• Published On2026/06/13
• JournalInternational Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Application (IJAMA)
• ISSN No.3048-9350

Abstract

Shell-and-tube heat exchangers (STHEs) account for approximately 35–40% of all heat transfer equipment installed in process industries globally, making incremental improvements in their thermal-hydraulic performance economically significant at scale. Conventional water-based working fluids exhibit limited thermal conductivity (0.60 W/m·K at 25°C), motivating research into nanofluids — colloidal suspensions of nanometre-scale metal or metal oxide particles — as drop-in thermal performance enhancement agents. Aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) nanofluids have emerged as particularly promising owing to their relatively high thermal conductivity enhancement per unit particle volume fraction, chemical stability, and low cost relative to noble-metal and carbon-based nanomaterials. However, the combined effect of nanofluid concentration, baffle spacing, baffle cut ratio, and tube-side Reynolds number on overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop penalty in industrial STHEs has not been comprehensively optimised under conditions representative of North Indian chemical process plant operating temperatures. This study experimentally characterises Al₂O₃–water nanofluids at volume fractions of 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% in a custom-fabricated single-pass STHE (shell diameter 150 mm, 19 tubes, 1500 mm tube length) with segmental baffles at three spacing levels (25%, 35%, and 45% of shell diameter) and two baffle cut ratios (20% and 25%). Overall heat transfer coefficients (U), Nusselt numbers (Nu), pressure drop (ΔP), and thermal performance factor (η) are measured across shell-side Reynolds numbers of 5,000–25,000. A validated CFD model (ANSYS Fluent 2023 R1, realizable k–ε turbulence model, mixture-phase nanofluid approach) is developed and used to extend the parametric space beyond the experimental matrix. Response surface methodology (RSM) with a central composite design (CCD) is applied to optimise the four-dimensional design space, yielding a Pareto front of optimal baffle configurations that maximise thermal performance factor subject to pressure drop constraints. The 1.0% Al₂O₃ nanofluid with 35% baffle spacing and 20% baffle cut achieves the maximum overall heat transfer coefficient of 2,847 W/m²·K — a 34.2% enhancement over base-fluid water at equivalent operating conditions — with a thermal performance factor of 1.28, confirming that the thermal gain exceeds the pumping power penalty.

Keywords: shell-and-tube heat exchanger, Al₂O₃ nanofluid, thermal performance, baffle configuration, CFD, response surface methodology, Nusselt number, pressure drop, thermal performance factor

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