Macroscopic No-Slip Boundary Condition Confirmed in Full Atomistic Simulation of Oil Film

Abstract

The no-slip boundary condition widely used in the macroscopic fluid mechanics has not been explained from the molecular level. This letter describes all atom molecular dynamics simulation to study boundary slip of hydrocarbon oil film under shear of a submicron thickness confined between solid walls. The large time-space scale simulation under the realistic interactions of fluid atoms, solid-fluid interaction and sliding speed has shown the no-slip of the oil film. The difference between the nanoscale film and the submicron thick film is explained from the viewpoint of the anisotropic viscosity rise in the vicinity of the solid wall and the correlation length of the momentum up to several tenths of nanometers. The results of the present simulation coincide with the experiments of fluid flow through nanometer-scale channels.

Keywords

• tribology
• no-slip boundary condition
• molecular dynamics
• elastohydrodynamic lubrication