Modeling and prediction of thermal conductivity ratio of metal-oxide based nano-fluids using artificial neural network and power law

In this study, the thermal conductivity ratio model for metallic oxide based nano-fluids is proposed. The model was developed by considering the thermal conductivity as a function of particle concentration (percentage volume), temperature, particle size and thermal conductivity of the base fluid and nano-particles. The experimental results for Al2O3, CuO, ZnO, and TiO2 particles dispersed in ethylene glycol, water and a combination of both were adopted from the literature. Artificial neural network (ANN) and power law models were developed and compared with the experimental data based on statistical methods. ANOVA was used to determine the relative importance of contributing factors, which revealed that the concentration of nano-particles in a fluid is the single most important contributing factor of the conductivity ratio.