abstract: Nanoparticle suspensions, popularly termed “nanofluids,” have been extensively investigated for their thermal and radiative properties. Such work has generated great controversy, although it is arguably accepted today that the presence of nanoparticles rarely leads to useful enhancements in either thermal conductivity or convective heat transfer. On the other hand, there are still examples of unanticipated enhancements to some properties, such as the reported specific heat of molten salt-based nanofluids and the critical heat flux. Another largely overlooked example is the apparent effect of nanoparticles on the effective latent heat of vaporization (hfg) of aqueous nanofluids. A previous study focused on molecular dynamics (MD) modeling supplemented with limited experimental data to suggest that hfg increases with increasing nanoparticle concentration. Here, this research extends that exploratory work in an effort to determine if hfg of aqueous nanofluids can be manipulated, i.e., increased or decreased, by the addition of graphite or silver nanoparticles. Our results to date indicate that hfg can be substantially impacted, by up to ± 30% depending on the type of nanoparticle. Moreover, this dissertation reports further experiments with changing surface area based on volume fraction (0.005% to 2%) and various nanoparticle sizes to investigate the mechanisms for hfg modification in aqueous graphite and silver nanofluids. This research also investigates thermophysical properties, i.e., density and surface tension in aqueous nanofluids to support the experimental results of hfg based on the Clausius - Clapeyron equation. This theoretical investigation agrees well with the experimental results. Furthermore, this research investigates the hfg change of aqueous nanofluids with nanoscale studies in terms of melting of silver nanoparticles and hydrophobic interactions of graphite nanofluid. As a result, the entropy change due to those mechanisms could be a main cause of the changes of hfg in silver and graphite nanofluids. Finally, applying the latent heat results of graphite and silver nanofluids to an actual solar thermal system to identify enhanced performance with a Rankine cycle is suggested to show that the tunable latent heat of vaporization in nanofluilds could be beneficial for real-world solar thermal applications with improved efficiency. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2015

Submitted by IGOR SEICHO KIYOMURA null (igorseicho@gmail.com) on 2016-09-12T14:07:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Igor Seicho Kiyomura.pdf: 3224196 bytes, checksum: d71f4ad45145d3dc7f441a0090d3b373 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Felipe Augusto Arakaki (arakaki@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-09-14T19:13:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 kiyomura_is_me_ilha.pdf: 3224196 bytes, checksum: d71f4ad45145d3dc7f441a0090d3b373 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-14T19:13:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 kiyomura_is_me_ilha.pdf: 3224196 bytes, checksum: d71f4ad45145d3dc7f441a0090d3b373 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-29 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Nas últimas décadas surgiu a necessidade de dissipar maiores quantidades de energia térmica, fato que acarretou no aumento do número de estudos em ebulição nucleada e convectiva com o objetivo de produzir trocadores de calor cada vez mais eficientes e compactos. A busca de produtos cada vez mais eficientes e compactos e a procura de novas técnicas para melhorar a transferência de calor, garantindo a integridade física do equipamento, continuam crescendo e a tendência é que continuará assim nos próximos anos. Uma das técnicas que está sendo amplamente pesquisada na comunidade cientifica é o uso de nanofluidos. Os nanofluidos foram desenvolvidos com o intuito de melhorar a condutividade e a difusividade térmica em relação aos fluidos tradicionais. Muitos experimentos com nanofluidos têm sido desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, mas ainda existem muitas divergências a respeito do efeito desses fluidos sobre o fenômeno de ebulição. Dentro deste contexto, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo a análise teórico-experimental do efeito de superfícies nanoestruturadas e da concentração do nanofluido, a ser depositado sobre a superfície aquecedora, sobre o coeficiente de transferência de calor em regime de ebulição nucleada. Para tanto, testes foram realizados para fluxos de calor que correspondem ao regime de ebulição nucleada da água deionizada, à temperatura de saturação (Tsat = 99 °C) e à pressão atmosférica (patm = 98 kPa), sobre superfícies aquecedoras de cobre com diferentes rugosidades. As superfícies nanoestruturadas foram produzidas por deposição de nanopartículas de maguemita, por meio do processo de ebulição da solução Fe2O3-água deionizada para diferentes concentrações mássicas previamente estabelecidas. As superfícies foram submetidas a ensaios metalográficos, de molhabilidade e de rugosidade permitindo a avaliação das modificações estruturais, topográficas e químicas das superfícies, antes e após os testes no regime de ebulição nucleada. Os resultados para o coeficiente de transferência de calor foram relacionados com as características geométricas e morfológicas das superfícies de teste, levando em consideração os aspectos relacionados à interação fluido/superfície, como, o ângulo de contato e a molhabilidade. / In the last decade, the necessity to dissipate large quantities of heat energy increased, thus leading to an increase on the number of studies in nucleate pool boiling and flow boiling with the aim of producing more compact and efficient heat exchangers. The search for increasingly efficient and compact products and for new techniques to improve the heat transfer, ensuring the physical integrity of the equipment, keep growing and it will remain so in the next years. One of the techniques being widely researched in the scientific community is the use of nanofluids. The nanofluids have been developed in order to improve the thermal conductivity and diffusivity compared to traditional fluids. Although many experiments with nanofluids have been developed in recent years, there are still many differences related to the effects of these fluids on the pool boiling phenomenon. In this context, this work aims to analyze the effects of nanostructured surfaces and different nanofluid concentrations, which are deposited on the heating surface, on the heat transfer coefficient during the nucleate boiling regime. Therefore, tests were performed to heat fluxes values corresponding to the nucleate boiling regime for deionized water, at saturation temperature (Tsat = 99 °C) and atmospheric pressure (patm = 98 kPa), on copper heating surfaces with different roughness values. The nanostructured surfaces were produced by maghemite nanoparticle deposition, which is achieved by boiling selected mass concentrations of a Fe2O3-deionized water nanofluid. Prior and after each boiling test, the characteristics of the test surfaces were evaluated by applying the metallographic, wettability and surface roughness tests. The results for the heat transfer coefficient were related to the geometrical and morphological characteristics of the test surfaces, taking into account the aspects of the flu-id/surface interaction such as, the contact angle and wettability. / FAPESP: 2014/07949-9

Orientador: Elaine Maria Cardoso / Resumo: Nas últimas décadas surgiu a necessidade de dissipar maiores quantidades de energiatérmica, fato que acarretou no aumento do número de estudos em ebulição nucleada e convectivacom o objetivo de produzir trocadores de calor cada vez mais eficientes e compactos. Abusca de produtos cada vez mais eficientes e compactos e a procura de novas técnicas paramelhorar a transferência de calor, garantindo a integridade física do equipamento, continuamcrescendo e a tendência é que continuará assim nos próximos anos. Uma das técnicas que estásendo amplamente pesquisada na comunidade cientifica é o uso de nanofluidos. Os nanofluidosforam desenvolvidos com o intuito de melhorar a condutividade e a difusividade térmicaem relação aos fluidos tradicionais. Muitos experimentos com nanofluidos têm sido desenvolvidosnos últimos anos, mas ainda existem muitas divergências a respeito do efeito dessesfluidos sobre o fenômeno de ebulição. Dentro deste contexto, o presente trabalho tem comoobjetivo a análise teórico-experimental do efeito de superfícies nanoestruturadas e da concentraçãodo nanofluido, a ser depositado sobre a superfície aquecedora, sobre o coeficiente detransferência de calor em regime de ebulição nucleada. Para tanto, testes foram realizadospara fluxos de calor que correspondem ao regime de ebulição nucleada da água deionizada, àtemperatura de saturação (Tsat = 99 °C) e à pressão atmosférica (patm = 98 kPa), sobre superfíciesaquecedoras de cobre com dif... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the last decade, the necessity to dissipate large quantities of heat energy increased,thus leading to an increase on the number of studies in nucleate pool boiling and flow boilingwith the aim of producing more compact and efficient heat exchangers. The search for increasinglyefficient and compact products and for new techniques to improve the heat transfer,ensuring the physical integrity of the equipment, keep growing and it will remain so in thenext years. One of the techniques being widely researched in the scientific community is theuse of nanofluids. The nanofluids have been developed in order to improve the thermal conductivityand diffusivity compared to traditional fluids. Although many experiments withnanofluids have been developed in recent years, there are still many differences related to theeffects of these fluids on the pool boiling phenomenon. In this context, this work aims to analyzethe effects of nanostructured surfaces and different nanofluid concentrations, which aredeposited on the heating surface, on the heat transfer coefficient during the nucleate boilingregime. Therefore, tests were performed to heat fluxes values corresponding to the nucleateboiling regime for deionized water, at saturation temperature (Tsat = 99 °C) and atmosphericpressure (patm = 98 kPa), on copper heating surfaces with different roughness values. Thenanostructured surfaces were produced by maghemite nanoparticle deposition, which isachieved by boi... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Dissipadores de calor baseados em microcanais são apresentados como solução para a remoção de fluxos de calor elevados em espaços restritos, pois proporcionam elevados coeficientes de transferência de calor quando comparados a canais convencionais. Tais trocadores também proporcionam elevadas razões entre a área superficial em contato com o refrigerante por unidade de volume do dissipador. Além dos microcanais, a utilização de nanofluidos também se apresenta como tecnologia com potencial de incremento do coeficiente de transferência de calor. Os nanofluidos consistem na adição de nanopartículas a um fluido base visando alterar suas propriedades de transporte termodinâmicas. Neste contexto, o objetivo do presente estudo é avaliar o coeficiente de transferência de calor para escoamentos monofásicos e ebulição convectiva de nanofluidos aquosos no interior de microcanais. Para isto, foram realizados experimentos em canais com diâmetro de 1,1 mm e comprimento de 200 mm para água deionizada, nanofluidos de alumina com diâmetros de 20-30 e 40-80 nm, nanofluidos de dióxido de silício com diâmetros de 15 e 80 nm, e nanofluidos de cobre com diâmetro de 25 nm. Estas soluções foram ensaiadas para concentrações volumétricas de nanopartículas de 0,001, 0,01 e 0,1, velocidades mássicas de 200, 400 e 600 kg/m2s e fluxos de calor de 20 a 350 kW/m2. A análise dos resultados revelou que a adição de nanopartículas a água deionizada proporciona o incremento do número de Nusselt para escoamentos monofásicos, principalmente na região inicial do tubo. Concluiu-se que os efeitos da adição de nanopartículas a um fluido base no coeficiente de transferência de calor durante a ebulição convectiva estão relacionados ao recobrimento da superfície com uma camada porosa. A deposição de nanopartículas com diâmetro inferior a 30 nm resultou na redução do coeficiente de transferência de calor e das instabilidades térmicas do escoamento em relação a água deionizada. O coeficiente de transferência de calor e as instabilidades térmicas não apresentaram variações significativas da deposição de nanopartículas com diâmetro superior a 40 nm. Por meio da análise da textura das superfícies recobertas e do critério de nucleação proposto por Kandlikar et al. (1997) concluiu-se que tal comportamento encontra-se associado aos efeitos do acabamento superficial na densidade de cavidades de nucleação ativas. / Microchannels based heat exchangers were introduced as a solution to high heat flux removal in restrict spaces due to their high heat transfer coefficients compared to heat exchangers based on conventional channels. The high ratio of surface are per volume is an additional advantage to microchannels in relation to conventional channels. Beside the microchannels technology, the nanofluids also present itself as a technique with potential to increase the heat transfer coefficient. Nanofluids consist of a solution containing nanoparticles dispersed in a base fluid with the goal to improve its thermodynamic and transport properties. In this context, the objective of the present study is to evaluate the heat transfer coefficient for single-phase flow and convective boiling of aqueous nanofluids inside microchannels. Experiments were performed for channels with internal diameter of 1.1mm and 200 mm long for DI-water, nanofluids containing alumina- (nanoparticles diameters of 20-30 and 40-80 nm), silicon dioxide (nanoparticles diameters of 15 and 80 nm), and copper (nanoparticles diameter of 25 nm). These solutions were evaluated for volumetric concentrations of 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1%, mass velocities of 200, 400 and 600 kg/m2s and heat fluxes from 20 to 350 kW/m2. The analysis of the results revealed that the addition of nanoparticles to DI-water causes an increment in the Nusselt number for single phase flows, especially at the inlet of the tube. The results for flow boiling indicated that the effects of adding nanoparticles to the base fluid are related to the deposition on the heating surface of a nanoparticles porous layer due to the boiling process. The deposition of nanoparticles smaller than 30 nm promoted a reduction of the heat transfer coefficient compared to DI-water on a clean surface, and thermal instabilities were minimized. For the deposition of nanoparticles larger than 40 nm these parameters did not presented significant variations in comparison to DI-water. A combined analysis of the surfaces finishing and the criterion of Kandlikar et al. (1997) for bubble nucleation revealed that such behaviors are correlated to the effects of the surface texture associated to the boiling process on the density of active nucleation cavities.

Este trabalho trata da caracterização de propriedades termodinâmicas e de transporte de nanofluidos baseados em nanopartículas de alumina em água para diferentes concentrações. Suspensões estáveis foram elaboradas por meio de um agitador ultrassônico. As seguintes propriedades foram analisadas: i) condutividade térmica com o método da sonda-linear; ii) viscosidade dinâmica através do reômetro do tipo cone e placa e iii) ângulo de contato com base em registros fotográficos de gotas em uma superfície plana e o tratamento de imagem através de um programa elaborado em LabVIEW. Procedimentos foram utilizados visando validar os métodos experimentais adotados, entre eles a comparação com resultados para fluidos puros. Além do estudo experimental, foi realizada uma análise crítica da literatura sobre condutividade térmica e viscosidade dinâmica de nanofluidos. Com base nesta análise, os resultados experimentais foram comparados a dados empíricos da literatura e métodos de previsão de propriedades desenvolvidos para nanofluidos e para suspensões de particulado sólido em líquido. De uma maneira geral, os resultados levantados neste estudo para condutividade térmica e viscosidade dinâmica de nanofluidos foram significativamente superiores a maioria dos dados experimentais da literatura e aos resultados proporcionados pelos métodos de previsão. Entretanto, para nanofluidos com composições distintas de nanopartículas de alumina em água, comportamentos similares ao do presente estudo também são observados na literatura. No caso do ângulo de contato, verificou-se seu decréscimo com o incremento da concentração de nanopartículas. Tal resultado coincide com a bibliografia consultada, segundo a qual a molhabilidade do nanofluido se eleva com o incremento da concentração de nanopartículas. / The present study concerns the characterization of thermodynamic and transport properties of nanofluids based on alumina nanoparticles in deionized water. Stable suspensions were obtained using an ultrasonic homogenizer (Sonicator). The following properties were measured: i) thermal conductivity using the linear probe method, ii) dynamic viscosity through a cone-plate rheometer iii) contact angle, based on photographic of nanofluid drops on a flat surface and image processing through a program based on LabVIEW. The methods and experimental procedures were validated by performing measurements properties of pure fluids with well known characteristics. Besides the experimental study, it was performed a comprehensive literature review on thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluids. Experimental results were compared against the data from the literature and the respective predictive methods developed for suspensions of nanofluids and micro solid particles in liquid. Generally speaking, the nanofluid thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity measured in the present study were higher than the empirical values from the literature and the values given by predictive methods. However, it should be highlighted that although for different compositions of nanofluids behaviors similar to the one observed in this study are also reported in the literature. In case of contact angle, it was found that its value decreases with increasing the nanoparticle volumetric concentration. Such results is coincident with literature reports according to which the nanofluid wettability, given in terms of the contact angle, increases with increasing the nanoparticle concentration.

Ce travail aborde la problématique des systèmes de refroidissement ou de contrôle thermique industriels. Nous avons particulièrement mis l'accent sur le refroidissement des serveurs informatiques. Une première partie consiste en l'étude des moyens d'amélioration des techniques de refroidissement existantes, tandis que la deuxième partie est une réflexion sur des techniques de refroidissement alternatives potentiellement plus efficaces et répondant aux demandes actuelles du contrôle thermique industriel. Dans le premier chapitre, nous analysons la bibliographie et la théorie relatives aux phénomènes physiques derrière les techniques de refroidissement étudiées. Ensuite, une classification des techniques de refroidissement est proposée en fin de chapitre. Ce chapitre a servi de base pour l'amélioration des technologies de refroidissement existantes et à la réflexion sur de nouvelles techniques plus efficaces. Le second chapitre porte sur l'optimisation d'une plaque froide, destinée au refroidissement des serveurs informatiques, en s'aidant d'un outil numérique et d'essais expérimentaux. Nous avons noté une augmentation des transferts de chaleur dans la plaque froide en utilisant des inserts, notamment ceux en forme de losange disposés en quinconce. A l'inverse, l'utilisation de certains nanofluides en tant que fluides caloporteurs ne semble pas apporter de gain significatif. Dans le troisième chapitre nous détaillons la démarche suivie pour la conception d'un dissipateur de chaleur basé sur une technologie caloducs, destiné au refroidissement des cartes électroniques. En premier lieu, nous présentons le modèle thermohydraulique de dimensionnement d'un caloduc cylindrique ; une étude paramétrique (géométrique, type de fluide,...) nous a permis d'identifier le jeu de paramètres donnant la meilleure performance du caloduc. En second lieu, nous évoquons les tests réalisés sur le dissipateur de chaleur à caloduc qui nous amènent à valider en partie le modèle thermohydraulique développé. Le dernier chapitre porte sur la réalisation et l'étude d'un démonstrateur pour le refroidissement des cartes électroniques par immersion dans un liquide à basse température de saturation. On commence par la mise en place et l'utilisation d'un modèle numérique pour la conception du démonstrateur, puis des tests expérimentaux sont réalisés. Les premiers résultats obtenus en utilisant le SES-36 comme fluide de travail sont assez prometteurs.Mots clés : modélisation, transfert de chaleur, refroidissement, datacenter, liquid-cooling, caloducs, échangeurs, nanofluides, ébullition en vase, simulation numérique / The present work is about industrial thermal control systems issues, a focus is done on IT servers cooling. The first part of this document is about cooling techniques optimization. The second part concerns investigations for new cooling techniques potentially more efficient and which can address today's challenges of industrial thermal control systems. In the first chapter, we have done a literature survey and a theoretical analysis of physical phenomena behind studied cooling techniques. Then, we have sorted those techniques according to some criteria. This chapter is a basis for optimization studies we have achieved in the second chapter and for our new cooling techniques investigations in the two last chapters. In the second chapter, we have presented a study about heat transfer enhancement in a cold plate developed for IT servers liquid-cooling. We have observed great heat transfer enhancement when adding lozenge shaped fins inside the cold plate channels. No gain was noted when using some nanofluids as heat transfer liquids. We have shown, in the third chapter, a conception algorithm of a heat spreading device destined for IT servers cooling. The heat spreader is based on a heatpipe technology. First of all, we have presented the thermohydraulic model for cylindrical heatpipes design. A parametric study (geometric, working fluids ...) showed the best combination to obtain the highest heatpipe performance. Then, the heat spreader has been tested and we have validated partially the heatpipe model. The last chapter of this work is a study of a demonstrator destined for cooling down electronic components by immersion in a dielectric fluid with a low saturation temperature. We first built a numerical model to design the demonstrator and then it has been tested. The first results are very encouraging, when using SES-36 as a working fluid.Keywords : modeling, heat transfer, cooling, datacenter, liquid-cooling, heat pipes, heat exchangers, nanofluids, pool boiling, numerical simulation

There are in general two different types of studies concerning nanofluids. The first one concerns itself with the study of the effective thermal conductivity and the other with the study of convective heat transfer enhancement. The study on convective heat transfer enhancement generally incorporates the study on the thermal conductivity. Not many papers have been written on the convective heat transfer enhancement and even fewer concerning the study on multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the transitional flow regime. In this paper the thermal conductivity and viscosity was determined experimentally in order to study the convective heat transfer enhancement of the nanofluids. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes suspended in distilled water flowing through a straight, horizontal tube was investigated experimentally for a Reynolds number range of a 1 000 - 8 000, which included the transitional flow regime. The tube was made out of copper and has an internal diameter of 5.16 mm. Results on the thermal conductivity and viscosity indicated that they increase with nanoparticle concentration. Convective heat transfer experiments were conducted at a constant heat flux of 13 kW/m2 with 0.33%, 0.75% and 1.0% volume concentrations of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes had an outside diameter of 10 - 20 nm, an inside diameter of 3 - 5 nm and a length of 10 - 30 μm. Temperature and pressure drop measurements were taken from which the heat transfer coefficients and friction factors were determined as a function of Reynolds number. The thermal conductivities and viscosities of the nanofluids were also determined experimentally so that the Reynolds and Nusselt numbers could be determined accurately. It was found that heat transfer was enhanced when comparing the data on a Nusselt number as a function of Reynolds number graph but comparing the results on a heat transfer coefficient as a function of average velocity graph the opposite effect was observed. Performance evaluation of the nanofluids showed that the increase in viscosity was four times the increase in the thermal conductivity which resulted in an inefficient nanofluid. However, a study on the performance evaluation criterion showed that operating nanofluids in the transition and turbulent flow regime due to the energy budget being better than that of the distilled water. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

A systematic investigation using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation involving particle volume fraction, size, wettability and system temperature is performed and the effect of these parameters on the thermal conductivity of water based nanofluids is discussed. Nanofluids are a colloidal suspension of 10 -100 nm particles in base fluid. In the last decade, significant research has been done in nanofluids, and thermal conductivity increases in double digits were reported in the literature. This anomalous increase in thermal conductivity cannot be explained by classical theories like Maxwell's model and Hamilton-Crosser model for nanoparticle suspensions. Various mechanisms responsible for thermal conductivity enhancement in nanofluids have been proposed and later refuted. MD simulation allows one to predict the static and dynamic properties of solids and liquids, and observe the interactions between solid and liquid atoms. In this work MD simulation is used to calculate the thermal conductivity of water based nanofluid and explore possible mechanisms causing the enhancement. While most recent MD simulations have considered Lennard Jones (LJ) potential to model water molecule interactions, this work uses a flexible bipolar water molecule using the Flexible 3 Center (F3C) model. This model maintains the tetrahedral structure of the water molecule and allows the bond bending and bond stretching modes, thereby tracking the motion and interactions between real water molecules. The choice of the potential for solid nanoparticle reflects the need for economic but insightful analyses and reasonable accuracy. A simple two body LJ potential is used to model the solid nanoparticle. The cross interaction between the solid and liquid atoms is also modeled by LJ potential and the Lorentz-Berthelot mixing rule is used to calculate the potential parameters. The various atomic interactions show that there exist two regimes of thermal conductivity enhancement. It is also found that increasing particle size and decreasing particle wettability cause lower thermal conductivity enhancement. In contrast to the previous studies, it is observed that increasing system temperature does not enhance thermal conductivity significantly. Such enhancement with temperature is proportional to the conductivity enhancement of base fluid with temperature. This study demonstrates that the major cause of thermal conductivity enhancement is the formation of ordered liquid layer at the solid-liquid interface. The enhanced motion of the liquid molecules in the presence of solid particles is captured by comparing the mean square displacement (MSD) of liquid molecules in the nanofluid to that of the base fluid molecules. The thermal conductivity is decomposed into three modes that make up the microscopic heat flux vector, namely kinetic, potential and collision modes. It was observed by this decomposition analyses that most of the thermal conductivity enhancement is obtained from the collision mode and not from either the kinetic or potential mode. This finding also supports the observation made by comparing the MSD of liquid molecules with the base fluid that the interaction between solid and liquid molecules is important for the enhancement in thermal transport properties in nanofluids. These findings are important for the future research in nanofluids, because they suggest that if smaller, functional nanoparticles which have higher wettability compared to the base fluid can be produced, they will provide higher thermal conductivity compared to the regular nanoparticles.

No description available.

<p>Nanofluids are engineered colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles in a liquid. The field of nanofluids has seen much interest due to reported heat transfer enhancements over the corresponding pure fluids at low particle concentrations. Particularly, a large increase in critical heat flux (CHF) has been widely reported along with modification of the boiling interface. Inconsistencies in reported impact on nucleate boiling heat transfer and the degree of CHF enhancement illustrate the need for further study.</p> <p>A pool boiling experiment has been designed and constructed at McMaster University to allow for the study the boiling of water-based nanofluids. The facility has been commissioned with saturated distilled water tests at atmospheric pressure, heat flux levels up to 1200 kW·m^-2, and at wall superheat levels up to 19.5^oC. Wall superheat and heat flux uncertainties were estimated to be ±0.6^oC and ±20 kW∙m^-2, respectively. For the installed test section, heat flux is limited to 2.62 ± 0.06 MW·m^-2. A high speed video system for the analysis of bubble dynamics was tested and used for qualitative comparisons between experimental runs. This system was tested at 2500 FPS and an imaging resolution of 39 pixels per mm, but is capable of up to 10 000 FPS at the same spatial resolution. Heat flux versus wall superheat data was compared to the Rohsenow correlation and found to qualitatively agree using surface factor <em>C_sf</em> = 0.011. Results were found to have a high degree of repeatability at heat flux levels higher than 600 kW·m^-2.</p> <p>The new facility will be used to conduct studies into the pool boiling of saturated water-based nanofluids at atmospheric pressure. Additional work will involve the control and characterization of heater surface conditions before and after boiling. Quantitative analysis of bubble dynamics will be possible using high speed video and particle image velocimetry.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)