On the thermal conductivity of nanofluids

Abstract

The dependence of the effective thermal conductivity λ of nanofluids on the properties of dispersed nanoparticles has been studied by the molecular dynamics method. It is established that the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid always exceeds that of the carrier medium, the excess depending on the volume fraction of nanoparticles, their masses, and sizes. An increase in the nanoparticle mass at a constant size leads to a more pronounced increase in λ than does the growth in size at a constant mass, which implies that the density of dispersed nanoparticles is an important factor that determines the thermal conductivity of nanofluids.