In a quiescent suspension, nanoparticles move randomly and thereby carry relatively large
volumes of surrounding liquid with them. This micro-scale interaction may occur between hot
and cold regions, resulting in a lower local temperature gradient for a given heat flux
compared with the pure liquid case. Thus, as a result of Brownian motion, the effective
thermal conductivity, k eff, which is composed of the particles' conventional static part and
the Brownian motion part, increases to result in a lower temperature gradient for a given …

ABSTRACT YU, FENG. A New Thermal Conductivity Model for Nanofluids with Convection
Heat Transfer Application.(Under the direction of Dr. C. Kleinstreuer). A nanofluid is a dilute
suspension of nanometer-sized particles and fibers dispersed in a liquid. As a result, when
compared to the base fluid, alteration of physical properties of mixtures occurs, such as
viscosity, density and thermal conductivity, among others. Of all the physical properties of
nanofluids, the thermal conductivity is the most complex and important one. Interestingly …