Nanofluids or liquids with suspended nanoparticles are likely to be the future heat transfer media, as they exhibit higher thermal conductivity than those of liquids. It has been proposed that nanoparticles are apt to...Nanofluids or liquids with suspended nanoparticles are likely to be the future heat transfer media, as they exhibit higher thermal conductivity than those of liquids. It has been proposed that nanoparticles are apt to congregate and form clusters, and hence the interaction between nanoparticles becomes important. In this paper, by taking into account the interaction between nearest-neighbour inclusions, we adopt the multiple image method to investigate the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Numerical results show that then the thermal conductivity ratio between the nanoparticles and fluids is large, and the two nanoparticles are close up and even touch, and the polnt-dipole theory such as Maxwell-Garnett theory becomes rough as many-body interactions are neglected. Our theoretical results on the effective thermal conductivity of CuO/water and Al2O3/water nanofluids are in good agreement with experimental data.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant No 10204017） and the Natural Science of Jiangsu Province, China （Grant No BK2002038）.
文摘Nanofluids or liquids with suspended nanoparticles are likely to be the future heat transfer media, as they exhibit higher thermal conductivity than those of liquids. It has been proposed that nanoparticles are apt to congregate and form clusters, and hence the interaction between nanoparticles becomes important. In this paper, by taking into account the interaction between nearest-neighbour inclusions, we adopt the multiple image method to investigate the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Numerical results show that then the thermal conductivity ratio between the nanoparticles and fluids is large, and the two nanoparticles are close up and even touch, and the polnt-dipole theory such as Maxwell-Garnett theory becomes rough as many-body interactions are neglected. Our theoretical results on the effective thermal conductivity of CuO/water and Al2O3/water nanofluids are in good agreement with experimental data.
