The application of nanofluids in energy systems
is developing day by day. Before using a nanofluid in an
energy system, it is necessary to measure the properties of
nanofluids. In this paper, first the results of experiments on
the thermal conductivity of MgO/ethylene glycol (EG)
nanofluids in a temperature range of 25–55 C and volume
concentrations up to 5 % are presented. Different sizes of
MgO nanoparticles are selected to disperse in EG,
including 20, 40, 50, and 60 nm. Based on the results, an
empirical correlation is presented as a function of temperature,
volume fraction, and nanoparticle size. Next, the
model of thermal conductivity enhancement in terms of
volume fraction, particle size, and temperature was
developed via neural network based on the measured data. It is observed that neural network can be used as a powerful
tool to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofluids.
