Abstract
A discrete computational approach based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is proposed for evaluating the latent heat of vaporization of nanofluids. The computational algorithm, which considers the interaction of the solid and the fluid molecules, is used for obtaining the enhancement of the latent heat of a base fluid due to the suspension of nanoparticles. The method is validated by comparing the computed latent heat values of water with standard values at different saturation temperatures. Simulation of a water–platinum nanofluid system is performed, treating the volume fraction and size of nanoparticles as parameters. The trends in the variation are found to match well with experimental results on nanofluids. Discussions are also presented on the limitations of the proposed model, and on methods to overcome them.
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Abbreviations
- d NP :
-
Effective outer diameter of the nanoparticles
- e :
-
Total energy
- L :
-
Box length
- m :
-
Mass, kg
- N p :
-
Number of atoms in the nanoparticles
- P :
-
Pressure
- p(t):
-
Present pressure
- P o :
-
Desired pressure
- r :
-
Inter-atomic distance, m
- r c.m :
-
Position of the center of mass of the nanoparticles
- R g :
-
Radius of gyration
- t :
-
Time
- T :
-
Temperature
- T o :
-
Desired temperature
- v :
-
Velocity
- μ :
-
Pressure scaling factor
- β :
-
Isothermal compressibility factor
- ε :
-
Minimum value of \({\phi_{\rm LJ, J}}\)
- σ :
-
Inter-atomic distance at which \({\phi_{\rm LJ}=0}\), nm
- τ p :
-
Time constant
- \({\phi}\) :
-
Inter-atomic potential, J
- O–O:
-
oxygen–oxygen
- O–Pt:
-
oxygen–platinum
- H–Pt:
-
hydrogen–platinum
- i :
-
ith particle
- j :
-
jth particle
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Ameen, M.M., Prabhul, K., Sivakumar, G. et al. Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Latent Heat Enhancement in Nanofluids. Int J Thermophys 31, 1131–1144 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-010-0839-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-010-0839-0