Radiative properties of dense nanofluids.

The radiative properties of dense nanofluids are investigated. For nanofluids, scattering and absorbing of electromagnetic waves by nanoparticles, as well as light absorption by the matrix/fluid in which the nanoparticles are suspended, should be considered. We compare five models for predicting apparent radiative properties of nanoparticulate media and evaluate their applicability. Using spectral absorption and scattering coefficients predicted by different models, we compute the apparent transmittance of a nanofluid layer, including multiple reflecting interfaces bounding the layer, and compare the model predictions with experimental results from the literature. Finally, we propose a new method to calculate the spectral radiative properties of dense nanofluids that shows quantitatively good agreement with the experimental results.