Modified self-consisted scheme to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofluids

In this study, the self-consisted scheme is generalized to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofluids containing spherical nanoparticles with a conductive interface. We assume a flux jump in the particle-fluid interface in the opposite to the assumption for temperature jump in the case of thermal barrier resistance. We have obtained an upper and lower bounds to the homogenized suspension thermal conductivity according to the particle packing, which is particle surface state dependent. A comparison with the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds and the Maxwell equation is made. The proposed model is evaluated using published experimental data of the thermal conductivity enhancement for different nanofluids. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.