Thermal performance of automotive radiator with graphene nanoplatelets suspension

The present study investigate the thermal performance of water-based graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) nanofluid in automotive radiator. The thermophysical properties of water-GnP nanofluid have been studied with different volumetric concentrations and temperatures. A modified correlation for the viscosity of GnP nanofluids has been developed. ANSYS Fluent is utilized to simulate the thermal performance of a flat tube automotive radiator with GnP suspension. Various pertinent parameters such as volumetric concentration and Reynold number are investigated. The present study shows that the Nusselt number enhances as the volumetric concentration and the Reynold number increase. The enhancement of average Nusselt number has been found to be 74.18% at 0.5 vol.% for the case of Reynolds number of 2,000. This enhancement could elevate the performance of automotive cooling system, leading to smaller radiator and reducing the fuel consumption of automotive engine.