Nano-Scale Water Poiseuille Flow: MD Computational Experiment

A Maknickas and G Skarbalius and A Dziugys and E Misiulis, 4TH POLISH CONGRESS OF MECHANICS AND THE 23RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER METHODS IN MECHANICS, 2239, 020029 (2020).

DOI: 10.1063/5.0007798

Because viscosity plays an important role in physical fluid flow applications, this property must be described accurately in computer simulations. As a most popular Newtonian fluid on earth, water has a special role in scientific and technical applications. The simulation of water with molecular dynamics (MD) includes granular matter of long- range interacting H2O molecules, and simulations using discrete element method, as well as experimental studies of the dynamics of spheres with sub-millimetre radii, of such systems demonstrate non-Newtonian behaviour. Therefore, the flow of water molecules with complex shapes and long-range non-linear interactions in nano-scaled fluid devices-in contrast to macro-scaled devices-is also likely to demonstrate non- Newtonian behaviour. In this study, we used molecular dynamics simulations, with a temperature range of 273 K to 363 K, to study the SPC/E water Poiseuille flow inside a nanochannel consisting of two parallel silicon plates. The results indicate non-Newtonian behaviour of molecular water flow at nanoscales.

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