This is a past event
The School Seminars give introductions and overviews of research areas rather than a discussion of technical details. Therefore they are interesting for an audience across the disciplines. MEng students in their final year are welcome to attend as well.
Abstract:
“If I were asked for an area of science and engineering that will
most likely produce the breakthroughs of tomorrow, I would point to
nanoscale science and engineering.” Prof. Neal Lane
Heat transfer is a well established field which is becoming limited by
the thermophysical properties of available heat-transfer fluids. One
exciting avenue of research is that of nanofluids, where nanoparticles
are added to a base fluid to enhance its thermal properties. Initial
experimental results have shown that for certain mixtures a large
enhancement of the thermal conductivity occurs which greatly exceeds
theoretical predictions. This caused significant controversy in the
literature; however, in recent times many of these anomalous results
have been shown to be within the bounds of classical theories. In this
seminar, this history is reviewed and a novel mechanism for heat
transfer in nanofluids is proposed. It is demonstrated that this
mechanism allows truly "anomalous" thermal behaviours for nanofluids
mixtures. It is demonstrated through kinetic theory that insulating
nanoparticles can actually increase thermal conductivity of the base
fluid under certain conditions, defying all predictions of classical
theories. This discovery is validated using molecular dynamics
simulations and an outlook of the application of these results is
presented.
- Speaker
- Dr Marcus Campbell-Bannerman
- Hosted by
- Engineering
- Venue
- FN LT3