How Can Molecular Simulations Contribute to Thermal Engineering ? - Topics from Microbubbles and Microscale Heat Conduction -

摘要

This review covers several problems in thermal engineering which require consideration in nano-scale or at molecular level. One example in nanofluidics is “nano bubbles”; molecular simulation reveals that surface tension and vapor pressure of a spherical bubble hardly depend on its size and that the classical Young-Laplace equation is applicable even to a bubble as small as several nano meters. Combined with CFD schemes, molecular simulation can also treat oscillating dynamics of nanobubbles. Another example comes from solid-state physics, i.e., thermophysical properties of nano-scale elements. As the thickness of solid thin film decreases to "phonon mean free path", the apparent thermal conductivity becomes smaller, the mechanism of which molecular simulation can explain.