Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation of coupling between nanoparticles and base-fluid in a nanofluid

The intent of this study is to examine nonequilibrium heat transfer in a copper-argon nanofluid by molecular dynamics simulation. Two different methods, the physical definition method and the curve fitting method, are introduced to calculate the coupling factor between nanoparticles and base fluid. The results show that the coupling factors obtained by these two methods are consistent. The coupling factor is proportional to the volume fraction of the nanoparticle and inversely proportional to nanoparticle diameter. In the temperature range of 90-200 K, the coupling factor is not affected by temperature. The nanoparticle aggregation results in a decrease of the coupling factor.