Simulation of the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid with small particles by molecular dynamics methods

Abstract

The thermal conductivity of nanoliquids has been simulated by molecular dynamics method. We consider nanofluids based on argon with aluminum and zinc particles with sizes of 1–4 nm. The volume concentration of nanoparticles is varied from 1 to 5%. The dependence of the thermal conductivity on the volume concentration of nanoparticles has been analyzed. It has been shown that the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid cannot be described by classical theories. In particular, it depends on the particle size and increases with it. However, it has been established that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids with small particles can even be lower than that of the carrier fluid. The behavior of the correlation functions responsible for the thermal conductivity has been studied systematically, and the reason for the increase in the thermal conductivity of nanofluid has been explained qualitatively.