Effect of Clusters on Thermal Conductivity in Nanofluids

We propose a new model for the effective thermal conductivities of nanofluids, which is derived from the fact that nanoparticles and clusters coexist in the fluids. The effects of the compactness and the perfectness of the contact between nanoparticles in clusters on the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids are analysed. The proposed model indicates that the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids decreases with the increasing concentration of clusters. The model predictions are compared with and are in good agreement with the available experimental data.