Self-Consistent Fluctuating Hydrodynamics Simulations of Thermal Transport in Nanoparticle Suspensions

We present the mesoscopic simulation of heat conduction in nanoparticle suspensions (nanofluids) by using the energy-conserving dissipative particle dynamics (eDPD) method. Through coarse graining, our simulations probe the thermal and momentum transport in nanofluids at a length scale much greater than that in atomistic methods. We show that our simulations model the fluctuating hydrodynamics in nanofluids in a thermodynamically self-consistent manner, which is critical for resolving the current controversies on mechanisms of heat conduction in nanofluids. Simulation results indicate that the Brownian motion of nanoparticles plays a negligible role in determining the thermal conductivity of nanofluids at least within the framework of fluctuating hydrodynamics at mesoscales.