MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATION OF THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY AND VISCOSITY OF A NANOFLUID: EFFECT OF NANOPARTICLE AGGREGATION

摘要

Effect of nanoparticle aggregation on the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids is studied by molecular dynamics simulation in this work. Thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluid are calculated using Green-Kubo method and results show that the nanoparticle aggregation induces a significant enhancement of thermal conductivity in nanofluid, while the increase of viscosity is moderate. The results also indicate that different configurations of the nanoparticle cluster result in different enhancements of thermal conductivity and increase of viscosity in the nanofluid. The differences between equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) approach and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) approach in obtaining the thermophysical properties of nanofluids are also discussed.