The Interfacial Layer and the Thermal Conductivity of Nanofluid

Nanofluids are a class of colloidal dispersion of nanosized particles which are found to exhibit anomalous heat conducting properties compared to other conventional heat transfer fluids. Among various factors responsible for this anomaly, the role of nanolayer thickness is found to be quite important. This article includes its effect by suggesting a new exponential form for the profile of thermal conductivity in the interfacial layer. The effect of nanoparticle size, the volume fraction, and the ratio of thermal conductivity of the nanoparticle to the base fluid form part of the discussion. The presented scheme predicts well the enhancement of thermal conductivity of two nanofluids, alumina/EG and CuO/water, used as an example. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 43(3): 288–296, 2014; Published online 3 October 2013 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj). DOI 10.1002/htj.21084