MHD free convection flow in a vertical porous super-hydrophobic micro-channel

A free convective flow of an incompressible and electrically conducting fluid through a vertical micro-channel of rectangular geometry was considered. Both plates were porous and heated alternately. A transverse magnetic field was applied across the channel. One channel wall surface was no slip and the other was super-hydrophobic. The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of super-hydrophobicity, magnetism and wall porosity on the main characteristics of the flow. The exact solutions of the formulated differential equations were provided. A few highlights of the results obtained include: (1) the magnetic parameter lowered the skin friction at both surfaces when either of them were heated, (2) the suction/injection parameter raised the fluid temperature when the super-hydrophobic surface (SHS) was heated and brought it down when the no slip surface (NSS) was heated, (3) a critical temperature jump coefficient was observed at which the flow rates in both cases (only SHS heated, and only NSS heated) were equal. A few application areas of the research include micro-fluidics and micro-electronics.

Temperature Jump Coefficient for Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Mathematical models are developed for heat conduction in creeping flow of a liquid over a microstructured superhydrophobic surface, where because of hydrophobicity, a gas is trapped in the cavities of the microstructure. As gas is much lower in thermal conductivity than liquid, an interfacial temperature slip between the liquid and the surface will develop on the macroscale. In this note, the temperature jump coefficient is numerically determined for several types of superhydrophobic surfaces: a surface with parallel grooves, and surfaces with two-dimensionally distributed patches corresponding to the top of circular or square posts, and circular or square holes. These temperature jump coefficients are found to have a nearly constant ratio with the corresponding velocity slip lengths.

Natural Convection in a Vertical Slit Microchannel With Superhydrophobic Slip and Temperature Jump

Recent developments in microscale heat exchangers have heightened the need for the understanding of fluid flow and heat transfer in a microchannel. In this study, we look into fully-developed buoyancy-driven flow in a vertical parallel-plate microchannel, which has one wall exhibiting superhydrophobic slip and temperature jump, and another wall being a normal no-slip surface. Analytical solutions are derived for free convection in the channel, where the heating is applied to either one of the two walls, and by either constant wall temperature or constant heat flux. We examine how the superhydrophobic slip and temperature jump may affect the volume flow rate and the Nusselt number under various heating conditions. There exists a critical value of the temperature jump coefficient, above which the flow rate will be larger by heating the no-slip surface than by heating the superhydrophobic surface, whether by constant wall temperature or by constant heat flux. The opposite is true when the temperature jump coefficient is below the critical value. Also, the temperature jump can have a negative effect on the flow rate when the heating is by constant temperature on the superhydrophobic side of the channel, but will have a positive effect when the heating is on the no-slip side of the channel.

On the second-order temperature jump coefficient of a dilute gas

We use LVDSMC (low-variance deviational Monte Carlo) simulations to calculate, under linearized conditions, the second-order temperature jump coefficient for a dilute gas whose temperature is governed by the Poisson equation with a constant forcing term, as in the case of homogeneous volumetric heating. Both the hard-sphere gas and the BGK model of the Boltzmann equation, for which slip/jump coefficients are not functions of temperature, are considered. The temperature jump relation and jump coefficient determined here are closely linked to the general jump relations for time-dependent problems that have yet to be systematically treated in the literature; as a result, they are different from those corresponding to the well-known linear and steady case where the temperature is governed by the homogeneous heat conduction (Laplace) equation.

Free Convection Effects on Stokes’ Problem for a Vertical Plate in Rarefied Gas-Medium

An exact analysis of Stokes’ problem for the flow past an impulsively started infinite vertical plate in a rarefied gas-medium has been presented under first-order velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions. The effects of an externally heating or cooling of the plate by the free convection currents are studied. It is observed that there may exist a reverse type of flow when the plate is being cooled by the free convection currents. The rate of heat transfer has been found to decrease with increasing the temperature jump coefficient h2.

The Slip Problems for a Simple Gas

Simple and accurate expressions for the velocity slip coefficient, the slip in the thermal creep, and the temperature jump coefficient are obtained by applying a variational technique to the linearized Boltzmann equation for a simple gas. Completely general forms of the boundary conditions are used, and the final results are presented in a form such that the results for any particular intermolecular force law or the gas-surface interaction law can easily be calculated. Further, it is shown that, with little extra effort, the present results can be easily extended to include the case of a polyatomic gas. It is felt that the present work, together with a recent paper in which the author has considered the solutions of the linearized Boltzmann equation for a monatomic multicomponent gas mixture, provide the desired basis for the consideration of the various slip problems associated with the polyatomic gas mixtures.