On the thermal conductivity of nanofluids

The dependence of the effective thermal conductivity lambda 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 lambda 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.