Thermal conductivity of ordered molecular water

The authors use molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the thermal transport characteristics of water with various degree of orientational and translational orders induced by the application of an electric field. The authors observe that the orientational ordering of the water dipole moments has a minor effect on the thermal conductivity. However, electric-field-induced crystallization and associated translational order result in approximately a three fold increase of thermal conductivity with respect to the base water, i.e., to values comparable with those characterizing ice crystal structures. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.