Abstract
The thermodynamic properties such as viscosity and thermal conductivity, that depend on the pressure and temperature of system, are important in the analysis of heat transfer. To predict these properties becomes possible by the method of molecular dynamics because the fluid is basically composed of a collective of molecules from a microscopic point of view. The understanding and treatment at a molecular level have been recognized to be more important in heat and mass transfer research recently. A new field, “Molecular Dynamic Engineering,” has a variety of applications in the future development of microscopic heat transfer theory and in handling the heat transfer situations related to nano- technology. The traditional concepts of flow field and heat transfer may not be applied in nanofluids. Therefore, to analyze the basic properties of nanofluids such as the viscosity and thermal conductivity is very important. The thermodynamic properties of the pure liquid argon and the nanofluid, composed of liquid argon and solid platinum, are calculated numerically by the method of molecular dynamics. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the pure liquid argon and the nanofluid are obtained, respectively. Quantitatively, the data of pure liquid argon are in good agreement with the experimental results. In addition, the qualitative behaviors of common nanofluids can be satisfactorily described according the results in this work.