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arXiv · 0901.0058

The Classical Nature of Thermal Conduction in Nanofluids

Jacob Eapen·Roberto Rusconi·Roberto Piazza·Sidney Yip
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Abstract

Several new mechanisms have been hypothesized in the recent years to characterize the thermal conduction behavior in nanofluids. In this paper, we show that a large set of nanofluid thermal conductivity data is enveloped by the well-known Hashin and Shtrikman (HS) mean-field bounds for inhomogeneous systems. The thermal conductivity in nanofluids, therefore, is largely dependent on whether the nanoparticles stays dispersed in the base fluid, form linear chain-like configurations, or assume an intermediate configuration. The experimental data, which is strikingly analogous to those in most solid composites and liquid mixtures, provides a strong evidence for the classical nature of thermal conduction in nanofluids.

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Jacob Eapen, Roberto Rusconi, Roberto Piazza, Sidney Yip. 2008-12-31. The Classical Nature of Thermal Conduction in Nanofluids. https://arxiv.org/abs/0901.0058

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