ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the research findings and development on rheological characteristics of nanofluids for their advanced heat transfer applications. It identifies the research anomaly and importance on this topic and analyzes the rheology of nanofluids. Various classical and recently developed viscosity models for nanofluids are presented and discussed. Nanofluids are classified as metallic and nonmetallic types, and research findings of these nanofluids have been analyzed. The effects of several important factors such as concentration of nanoparticles and temperature on the viscosity of each type of nanofluid have been explicitly reviewed. The results from various research groups and predictions from viscosity models are also compared and discussed in detail. The chapter also describes the significance of the viscosity of nanofluids in heat transfer applications and reveals the challenges and research needs in this key area of nanofluids.
