This paper contains the results of a concise statistical review analysis of a large amount of publications regarding the anomalous heat transfer modes of nanofluids. The application of nanofluids as coolants is a novel practise with no established physical foundations explaining the observed anomalous heat transfer. As a consequence, traditional methods of performing a literature review may not be adequate in presenting objectively the results representing the bulk of the available literature. The current literature review analysis aims to resolve the problems faced by researchers in the past by employing an unbiased statistical analysis to present and reveal the current trends and general belief of the scientific community regarding the anomalous heat transfer modes of nanofluids. The thermal performance analysis indicated that statistically there exists a variable enhancement for conduction, convection/mixed heat transfer, pool boiling heat transfer and critical heat flux modes. The most popular proposed mechanisms in the literature to explain heat transfer in nanofluids are revealed, as well as possible trends between nanofluid properties and thermal performance. The review also suggests future experimentation to provide more conclusive answers to the control mechanisms and influential parameters of heat transfer in nanofluids.

A new approach for simultaneous planar measurement of droplet velocity and size with gas phase velocities is reported, which combines the out-of-focus imaging technique ‘Interferometric Laser Imaging Droplet Sizing’ (ILIDS) for planar simultaneous droplet size and velocity measurements with the in-focus technique ‘Particle Image Velocimetry’ (PIV) for gas velocity measurements in the vicinity of individual droplets. Discrimination between the gas phase seeding and the droplets is achieved in the PIV images by removing the glare points of focused droplet images, using the droplet position obtained through ILIDS processing. Combination of the two optical arrangements can result in a discrepancy in the location of the centre of a droplet, when imaging through ILIDS and PIV techniques, of up to about 1 mm, which may lead to erroneous identification of the glare points from droplets on the PIV images. The magnitude of the discrepancy is a function of position of the droplet’s image on the CCD array and the degree of defocus, but almost independent of droplet size. Specifically, it varies approximately linearly across the image along the direction corresponding to the direction of propagation of the laser sheet for a given defocus setting in ILIDS. The experimental finding is supported by a theoretical analysis, which was based on geometrical optics for a simple optical configuration that replicates the essential features of the optical system. The discrepancy in the location was measured using a monodisperse droplet generator, and this was subtracted from the droplet centres identified in the ILIDS images of a polydisperse spray without ‘seeding’ particles. This reduced the discrepancy between PIV and ILIDS droplet centres from about 1 mm to about 0.1 mm and hence increased the probability of finding the corresponding fringe patterns on the ILIDS image and glare points on the PIV image. In conclusion, it is shown that the proposed combined method can discriminate between droplets and ‘seeding’ particles and is capable of two-phase measurements in polydisperse sprays.

This paper describes the development and application of a novel optical technique for the measurement of liquid film thickness formed on surfaces during the impingement of automotive fuel sprays. The technique makes use of the change of the light scattering characteristics of a metal surface with known roughness, when liquid is deposited. Important advantages of the technique over previously established methods are the ability to measure the time-dependent spatial distribution of the liquid film without a need to add a fluorescent tracer to the liquid, while the measurement principle is not influenced by changes of the pressure and temperature of the liquid or the surrounding gas phase. Also, there is no need for non-fluorescing surrogate fuels. However, an in situ calibration of the dependence of signal intensity on liquid film thickness is required. The developed method can be applied to measure the time-dependent and two-dimensional distribution of the liquid fuel film thickness on the piston or the liner of gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines. The applicability of this technique was evaluated with impinging sprays of several linear alkanes and alcohols with different thermo-physical properties. The surface temperature of the impingement plate was controlled to simulate the range of piston surface temperatures inside a GDI engine. Two sets of liquid film thickness measurements were obtained. During the first set, the surface temperature of the plate was kept constant, while the spray of different fuels interacted with the surface. In the second set, the plate temperature was adjusted to match the boiling temperature of each fuel. In this way, the influence of the surface temperature on the liquid film created by the spray of different fuels and their evaporation characteristics could be demonstrated.