Rheology of Nanofluids Containing Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

The viscosity and rheology of benzene and benzene-based nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes having various lengths and two diameters have been studied using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. The results demonstrate that, with increasing shear rate, these fluids become pseudoplastic. Correlations have been obtained describing the corresponding critical shear rates as functions of carbon nanotube concentration and length. The difference in viscosity between the base fluid and the nanofluids differing in nanotube length has been shown to decrease steadily at high shear rates, which is caused by a change in mechanisms of momentum dissipation in the system at nonzero shear rate.