A dynamic model for thermal conductivity in nanofluids

The classical continuum models of the thermal conductivity of solid-liquid suspensions are based on the central assumption that the heat transport in each phase is governed by the diffusion equation. As a result, continuum models such as the Fourier model can adequately explain the effective thermal conductivity of conventional suspensions of millimeter or micrometer sized particles. However, they simply fail to explain the new thermal transport phenomena in nanofluids, such as high thermal conductivity at low volume fractions of nanoparticles, and strongly temperature and size dependent conductivities. Discovery of these new transport phenomena has created a great need to understand new thermal transport mechanisms at small length scales. We purpose in this paper is present a dynamic model for thermal conductivity coefficient in nanofluids.

Nanofluid, Thermal conductivity, Dynamic model, Brownian motion