Effects of barriers on the thermal enhancement in boiling flow within a ribbed-microchannel using molecular dynamics simulation approach

Abstract

In this work, argon flow within different microchannels with square cross-section is simulated by the molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) method. The first simulation is done within ideal microchannel and then, internal surfaces of this microchannel are roughened by cone, cubic and spherical barriers respectively to report influences of roughness with different geometries on the distribution of fluid flows. It is reported that cone and spherical geometry of barriers do not strongly affect flow characteristics of argon fluid within the microchannel, while the cubic geometry of barriers delays density distribution of argon flow in the middle region of the microchannel due to their destructive role against translocation of fluid particles between lateral and central layers of the microchannel. For the density results, it is reported that two physical phenomenon of thermal and external energies play important roles on the distribution of fluid particles in different sections of microchannel due to their different applying directions. Moreover, it is observed that the temperature profile of fluid flow within microchannel with cubic barriers touched a maximum temperature of 420 K at the central layers which are in the highest temperature level among all cases studied. Results of this study are applicable for practical application in small scale designs such as medical probes to inject destructive fluid for destroying tumors in cold surgeries.

Keywords

• Barriers
• Boiling flow
• Microchannel
• Temperature
• Argon
• Molecular dynamics simulation