Molecular dynamics simulation of thermal conductivity of nanofluids

Abstract

Thermal conductivity of nanofluids has been modeled by means of molecular dynamics method. Nanofluids based on argon with aluminum and zinc particles ranging in size from 1 to 4 nm and particles volume concentration from 1% to 5% have been considered. The dependence of the thermal conductivity coefficient of nanofluids on volume concentration of particles has been studied. It was shown that the thermal conductivity of nanofluid is not described by the classical theories. It depends on the particle size and increases with it. In addition, it has been found that nanofluids with small particles may have even lower thermal conductivity than that of the base fluid. Evolutions of correlation functions that contribute to the thermal conductivity coefficient and integrals from them were studied in details.