Molecular dynamics simulation of effective thermal conductivity and study of enhanced thermal transport mechanism in nanofluids

Nanofluids have been proposed as a route for surpassing the performance of currently available heat transfer liquids in the near future. In this study an equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation was used to model a nanofluid system. The thermal conductivity of the base fluid and nanofluid was computed using the Green-Kubo method for various volume fractions of nanoparticle loadings. This study showed the ability of molecular dynamics to predict the enhanced thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Through molecular dynamics calculation of mean square displacements for liquid phase in base fluid and for liquid and solid phases in nanofluid, this study tried to investigate the mechanisms involved in thermal transport of nanofluids at the atomic level. The result showed that the thermal transport enhancement of nanofluids was mostly due to the increased movement of liquid atoms in the presence of nanoparticle. Diffusion coefficients were also calculated for base fluid and nanofluids. Similarity of enhancement in thermal conductivity and diffusion coefficient for nanofluids indicates similar transport process for mass and heat. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.