Analysis of Maxwell’s mean-field (or effective-medium) theory reveals two limiting bounds — an upper and a lower bound — for thermal conductivity in binary composite systems. The lower and the upper bounds correspond to continuous conduction paths through the base medium and the dispersed medium, respectively (assuming that the dispersed medium has a higher thermal conductivity). Extensive comparisons to experimental data show that most of the reported thermal conductivity data on nanofluids, solid composites and liquid mixtures fall between the limiting Maxwell bounds. For a nanofluid, this indicates that the effective thermal conductivity is largely dependent on the geometrical configuration and the connectivity of the dispersed nanoparticle phase. The lower bound corresponds to a colloidal configuration of well-dispersed nanoparticles with the continuous conduction path provided by the base medium while the upper bound represents a linear, fractal-like nanoparticle arrangement with the continuous conduction path provided by the nanoparticles.
Skip Nav Destination
ASME 2009 Heat Transfer Summer Conference collocated with the InterPACK09 and 3rd Energy Sustainability Conferences
July 19–23, 2009
San Francisco, California, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Heat Transfer Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4357-4
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Thermal Conduction Mechanism in Nanofluids, Solid Composites and Liquid Mixtures Available to Purchase
Jacob Eapen
Jacob Eapen
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Search for other works by this author on:
Jacob Eapen
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Paper No:
HT2009-88236, pp. 163-167; 5 pages
Published Online:
March 12, 2010
Citation
Eapen, J. "Thermal Conduction Mechanism in Nanofluids, Solid Composites and Liquid Mixtures." Proceedings of the ASME 2009 Heat Transfer Summer Conference collocated with the InterPACK09 and 3rd Energy Sustainability Conferences. Volume 2: Theory and Fundamental Research; Aerospace Heat Transfer; Gas Turbine Heat Transfer; Computational Heat Transfer. San Francisco, California, USA. July 19–23, 2009. pp. 163-167. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/HT2009-88236
Download citation file:
8
Views
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Articles
The Classical Nature of Thermal Conduction in Nanofluids
J. Heat Transfer (October,2010)
Heat Conduction in Nanofluid Suspensions
J. Heat Transfer (May,2006)
Review of Heat Conduction in Nanofluids
J. Heat Transfer (April,2011)
Related Chapters
An Approach for Optimizing Thermal Conductivity in Nanofluids
Inaugural US-EU-China Thermophysics Conference-Renewable Energy 2009 (UECTC 2009 Proceedings)
Introduction
Two-Phase Heat Transfer
Steady Heat Conduction with Variable Heat Conductivity
Introduction to Finite Element, Boundary Element, and Meshless Methods: With Applications to Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow