The effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and heat flux intensity increased, and decreased as inlet fluid temperature increased. When using nanofluids in the FPSC, the measured temperatures of absorber plate and tube wall decreased down to 3.35% and 3.51%, respectively, with the increase in weight concentration and specific surface area, while the efficiency increased up to 10.53% for 0.1- wt% TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g, in comparison with water. When using water as heat transfer fluid, very good agreement was obtained between the experimental and predicted values of absorber plate temperature, tube wall temperature, and collector’s efficiency with maximum differences of 3.02%, 3.19%, and 3.26%, respectively. While, when using nanofluids, higher differences were found, up to 4.74%, 4.7%, and 13.47% for TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g, respectively. Accordingly, the MATLAB code was capable of simulating the thermal performance of FPSCs utilizing nanofluids as their heat transfer fluids with acceptable accuracy. Values of performance index were all greater than 1, and increased as weight concentration increased up to 1.104 for 0.1- wt% TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g, implying higher positive effects on efficiency than negative effects on pressure drop. Accordingly, the investigated nanofluids can efficiently be used in FPSCs for enhanced energy efficiency, and the 0.1- wt% water-based TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g was comparatively the superior one.
The use of composite materials has vastly increased in recent years. Great interest is therefore developed in the damage detection of composites using non- destructive test methods. Several approaches have been applied to obtain information about the existence and location of the faults. This paper used the vibration response of a composite plate to detect and localize delamination defect based on the modal analysis. Experiments are conducted to validate the developed model. A two-dimensional finite element model for multi-layered composites with internal delamination is established. FEM program are built for plates under different boundary conditions. Natural frequencies and modal displacements of the intact and damaged
... Show MoreWater is the basis of the existence of all kinds of life, so obtaining it with good quality represents a challenge to human existence and development especially in the desert and remote cities because these areas contain small populations and water purification requires great materials and huge amounts of fossil fuels resulting pollution of the environment. Cheap and environmentally friendly desalination methods have been done by using solar distillations. Passive solar stills have low yields, so in this research, the problem is overcome by connecting four heat pipes which are installed on the parabolic concentrator reflector with passive solar still to increase the temperature of hot water to more than 90°C, as a resul
... Show MoreHeat transfer process and fluid flow in a solar chimney used for natural ventilation are investigated numerically in the present work. Solar chimney was tested by selecting different positions of absorber namely: at the back side, front side, and at the middle of the air gap. CFD analysis based on finite volume method is used to predict the thermal performance, and air flow in two dimensional solar chimney under unsteady state condition, to identify the effect of different parameters such as solar radiation. Results show that a solar chimney with absorber at the middle of the air gap gives better ventilation performance. A comparison between the numerical and previous experimental results shows fair agreement.
An experimental study was carried out to improve the surface roughness quality of the stainless steel 420 using magnetic abrasive finishing method (MAF). Four independent operation parameters were studied (working gap, coil current, feed rate, and table stroke), and their effects on the MAF process were introduced. A rotating coil electromagnet was designed and implemented to use with plane surfaces. The magnetic abrasive powder used was formed from 33%Fe and 67% Quartz of (250µm mesh size). The lubricant type SAE 20W was used as a binder for the powder contents. Taguchi method was used for designing the experiments and the optimal values of the selected parameters were found. An empirical equation representing the r
... Show MoreThe need for renewable energy sources is higher than ever due to rising global warming, climate change, and ozone depletion. For refrigeration and air conditioning applications, adsorption refrigeration systems are viable alternatives cooling techniques. This study is a topic and part of the M.Sc. thesis. A field solar-powered ice maker unit was created, studied, tested, and evaluated on the 13th and 30th of May, 2022. Activated carbon and methanol pair was used to set up a refrigeration system in Baghdad (Al Dora). Experimental tests were carried out outdoors to determine the coefficient of performance COP and specific cooling power SCP of the system. The results showed that the lowest temperature
... Show MoreThe evacuated tube solar collector ETC is studied intensively and extensively by experimental and
theoretical works, in order to investigate its performance and enhancement of heat transfer, for Baghdad climate
from April 2011 till the end of March 2012. Experimental work is carried out on a well instrumented collector
consists of 16 evacuated tubes of aspect ratio 38.6 and thermally insulated tank of volume 112L. The relation
between convective heat transfer and natural circulation inside the tube is estimated, collector efficiency, effect of
tube tilt angles, incidence angle modifier, The solar heating system is investigated under different loads pattern (i.e
closed and open flow) to evaluate the heat loss coefficient
Adsorption of o-Nitrophenol (o-Nph), m- Nitrophenol (m-Nph) and p- Nitrophenol (pNph) on the sedimentary sand of the Tigress River which is known locally by “Zemeej†from aqueous solution at 288, 298, 308, 318 and 328 k0 . This study indicates that o-Nph and mNph take multi-layered S type according to Giles classification while p-Nph takes a multilayered L type according to the same classification. The isotherms treated by Freundlich model and show a good response to this model because the heterogeneous nature of the surface. The adsorption for all materials was endothermic as shown from ΔH values and explained through the porous nature of the surface, the remaining thermodynamic functions ΔG and ΔS w
... Show MoreIn this study tungsten oxide and graphene oxide (GO-WO2.89) were successfully combined using the ultra-sonication method and embedded with polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) to prepare novel low-fouling membranes for ultrafiltration applications. The properties of the modified membranes and performance were investigated using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle (CA), water permeation flux, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection. It was found that the modified PPSU membrane fabricated from 0.1 wt.% of GO-WO2.89 possessed the best characteristics, with a 40.82° contact angle and 92.94% porosity. The permeation flux of the best membrane was the highest. The pure water permeation f
... Show MoreCritical buckling and natural frequencies behavior of laminated composite thin plates subjected to in-plane uniform load is obtained using classical laminated plate theory (CLPT). Analytical investigation is presented using Ritz- method for eigenvalue problems of buckling load solutions for laminated symmetric and anti-symmetric, angle and cross ply composite plate with different elastic supports along its edges. Equation of motion of the plate was derived using principle of virtual work and solved using modified Fourier displacement function that satisfies general edge conditions. Various numerical investigation were studied to exhibit a convergence and accuracy of the present solution for considering some design parameters such as edge
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