Enhancement of exhaust manifolds using hybrid Graphene-TiO₂ nano fluids in multi-cylinder diesel engines: A CFD study on TiO₂ advantages
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 60001, India
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, BGS College of Engineering and Technology, (Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi), Karnataka, 560086, India
3Air Conditioning Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Warith Al-Anbiyaa, Karbala, 56001, Iraq
4Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Karnataka, 587315, India
5Al-Manara College for Medical Sciences, Amarah, 62001, Iraq
6Ballari Institute of Technology and Management, Jnana Gangotri" Campus, Hospet Rd, near Allipura, Ballari, 583104, India
7Galgotias College of Engineering, Knowledge Park 11, Greater Noida, 201310, India; Al-Ayen Scientific Research Center, Al-Ayen Iraqi University, AUIQ, An Nasiriyah, P.O. Box: 64004, Thi Qar, Iraq
8Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman 19328, Jordan
9Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Clement Town, Dehradun-248002, Uttarakhand, 244713, India; Centre for Research Impact & Outcome, Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Rajpura 140401, Punjab, India
J Ther Eng 2026; 12(2): 702-722 DOI: 10.14744/thermal.0001111
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Abstract

This work is about graphene-TiO₂ hybrid nanofluid used for cooling a diesel engine exhaust manifold via coupled CFD simulations and experimental validation. The authors of this paper confirmed grid independence at more than 800 mesh elements with the pressure converging within -6 to 4 Pa. At 4.102 m/s velocity, the hybrid nanofluid caused a 7.016 Pa pressure drop, whereas the same for the conventional coolants was only 4.620 Pa thereby, the 52% rise in the pressure differential that correlates with the convective mixing enhancement. Streamline visualization depicted flow regularity improvement with the use of nanofluids, whereas turbu-lent kinetic energy increased steadily from 0.05 to 0.25 m²/s² over the 0-4 m/s velocity range, thereby promoting heat transfer directly. The enhancements in thermal conductivity of 5% and the heat transfer coefficients of 6% (with respect to the baseline fluid) have made it possi-ble to reduce the peak manifold temperature by 340°C. The pressure gradient or the change in pressure remained very stable (within ±6 Pa) all over the domain, which is a clear indication that the hydrodynamic behavior was under control. The experimental data corroborated the CFD predictions with temperature and pressure drop accuracy percentages of 30% and 20%, respectively. These results confirm that graphene-TiO₂ nanofluids are capable of resulting in specific improvement metric of "15% faster heat dissipation" or "20°C lower operating temperatures" in automotive exhaust systems and establish a validated computational framework for nanofluid-based thermal management design in internal combustion engines.