A model for the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids - effect of interfacial layer and non-uniform size distribution of nanoparticles

This work presents a model for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. In this method, the effect of non-uniform sizes of nanoparticles and interfacial layer is investigated simultaneously. The developed model for the thermal conductivity of nanofluids takes into account the effects of the thermal conductivity of base fluids, the thermal conductivity, the volume fraction and the size of nanoparticles, the interfacial layer, non-uniform sizes of nanoparticles, Brownian motion and temperature. Hence, this model has the capability of offering both analytical and numerical Predictions. The accuracy of proposed model for the effective thermal conductivity of water-〖 Al〗_2 O_3, ethylene glycol-〖 Al〗_2 O_3, water- CuO, ethylene glycol-CuO, ethylene glycol-Al, water- TiO_2 is investigated. The effect of temperature, size of nanopartcles and volume fraction of nanopartcles is determined. Results show that the interfacial layer at the nanoparticle-liquid interface and non-uniform sizes of nonparticles are the important parameters for calculating the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The Comparison between the result and available experimental data of several types of nanofluids indicates that the proposed model provides accurate results and the maximum error is 5%.