INTERFACIAL THERMAL RESISTANCE IN NANOSCALE HEAT TRANSFER

G Balasubramanian and S Banerjee and IK Puri, IMECE 2008: HEAT TRANSFER, FLUID FLOWS, AND THERMAL SYSTEMS, VOL 10, PTS A-C, 969-973 (2009).

We investigate nanoscale thermal transport across a solid-fluid interface using molecular dynamics simulations. Cooler fluid argon (Ar) is placed between two heated iron (Fe) walls, thereby imposing a temperature gradient within the system. fluid-fluid and solid-fluid interactions are modeled with Lennard-Jones potential parameters, while Embedded Atom Method (EAM) is used to describe the interactions between solid molecules. The Fe-Ar interaction causes ordering Of fluid molecules into quasi-crystalline layers near the walls. This causes temperature discontinuity between these solid-like Ar molecules and the adjacent fluid. The time evolution of the interfacial (Kapitza) thermal resistance (R(k)) and Kapitza length (L(k)) are observed. The averaged Kapitza resistance (R(k,av)) varies with the initial temperature difference between the wall and the fluid (Delta T(w)) is R(k,av) proportional to Delta T(w)(-0.82).

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