Direct Numerical Simulation of Nano Channel Flows at Low Reynolds Number
The governing equations of viscous fluid flow are generally represented by Navier–Stokes (NS) equations. The output of Navier Stokes equations is in essence velocity vector from which rest of the flow parameters can be calculated. It is essentially a riotous task, sometimes it becomes so unmanageable that fluid flow over simplest topologies under low Reynold’s numbers also needs the most powerful supercomputing facility to solve, if needed to model the fluid and its behavior under the turbulent conditions the best way out is to solve the averaged NS equations. However in the process of averaging Reynolds introduced certain new terms such as Reynolds Stresses. Therefore it is required to close the system of equations by relating the unknown variables with known ones. Hence we have turbulence models. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) is a method of solving NS equations directly that is by forfeiting the need of turbulence models as the equations are not averaged. However originally direct numerical simulation procedure does not need of additional closure equations, it is essential to have very fine grid elements and should be estimated for exceptionally small time steps to achieve precise solutions. In the present chapter an interesting flow through nano-channel problem has been discussed using the indispensable mathematical technique of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) which is DNS.