On Thermomechanics of a Nonlinear Heat Conducting Suspension

In this short paper, we discuss and provide constitutive relations for the stress tensor and the heat flux vector for a nonlinear density-gradient dependent (Korteweg-type) fluid. Specifically, we attempt to present a unified thermo-mechanical approach to the two models given in papers of Massoudi (International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, 2001, 36(1), pp. 25–37.) and Massoudi (Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, 2006, 29(13), pp. 1599–1613.) where the entropy law is used and restrictions are also obtained on the constitutive parameters. In most thermomechanical studies of nonlinear fluids using the entropy law, the stress tensor is assumed to be nonlinear and the heat flux vector still has the form of the Fourier type, i.e., it is proportional to the temperature gradient. In this paper, we use a generalized (nonlinear) form for the heat flux vector. When our model is linearized we obtain constraints, due to the entropy inequality, which are in agreement with the earlier results.