The thermal properties of water-copper nanofluid in the presence of surfactant molecules using molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

In this research, using the molecular dynamics simulation, the thermal properties of water-copper nanofluid in a rectangular nanochannel in the presence of surfactant molecules are investigated. Water molecules are considered the base fluid, copper atoms as nanoparticles, and CTAB molecules are considered surfactants. In this paper, some parameters such as thermodynamic stability, thermal conductivity, and radial distribution performance are investigated. The effect of surfactant on thermal conductivity is also studied. The addition of surfactant molecules to the nanofluid improves the thermal behavior of atomic structures. The thermal conductivity of the nanofluid containing the surfactant molecules is higher than the simulated primary nanofluid. Generally, this study investigates the effect of interactions between the base fluid and the surfactant to improve the thermal efficiency of nanofluid. Also The effect of the amount of surfactant added to the base fluid on the thermal properties of the base fluid and nanofluid is investigated. Numerically, the addition of surfactant molecules to the nanofluid increases the thermal conductivity of the structure from 0.741 Wm−1 K−1 to 0.783 Wm−1 K−1.