Is classical energy equation adequate for convective heat transfer in nanofluids?

Abstract

To address whether the heat transfer in nanofluids still satisfies the classical energy equation, we theoretically examine the macroscale manifestation of the microscale physics in nanofluids. The microscale interaction between nanoparticles and base fluids manifests itself as thermal waves/resonance at the macroscale. The energy equation that governs the heat transfer in nanofluids is of a dual-phase-lagging type instead of the postulated and commonly-used classical energy equation. The interplays among diffusion, convection, and thermal waves/resonance enrich the heat transfer in nanofluids considerably. © 2010 J. Fan and L.Wang.