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Article
Unsteady nanoscale thermal transport across a solid-fluid interface
Journal of Applied Physcis (2008)
  • Ganesh Balasubramanian, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • Soumik Banerjee, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • Ishwar K. Puri, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Abstract

We simulate unsteady nanoscale thermal transport at a solid-fluidinterface by placing cooler liquid-vapor Ar mixtures adjacent to warmer Fe walls. The equilibration of the system towards a uniform overall temperature is investigated using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations from which the heat flux is also determined explicitly. The Ar–Fe intermolecular interactions induce the migration of fluid atoms into quasicrystallineinterfacial layers adjacent to the walls, creating vacancies at the migration sites. This induces temperature discontinuities between the solidlikeinterfaces and their neighboring fluid molecules. The interfacial temperature difference and thus the heat flux decrease as the system equilibrates over time. The averaged interfacial thermal resistance Rk,av decreases as the imposed wall temperature Tw is increased, as Rk,av∝T−4.8w. The simulated temperature evolution deviates from an analytical continuum solution due to the overall system heterogeneity.

Keywords
  • Liquid solid interfaces,
  • inerface structures,
  • quasicrystals,
  • molecular dynamics,
  • heat transfer
Publication Date
September 22, 2008
Publisher Statement
The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 104, 6 (2008); 064306-1 and may be found at doi:10.1063/1.2978245. Copyright 2008 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.
Citation Information
Ganesh Balasubramanian, Soumik Banerjee and Ishwar K. Puri. "Unsteady nanoscale thermal transport across a solid-fluid interface" Journal of Applied Physcis Vol. 104 Iss. 6 (2008)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ganesh_balasubramanian/6/