Fluid heating in a nano-scale Poiseuille flow: A non-equilibrium molecular dynamics study

In this paper we develop a non-equilibrium molecular dynamics computer simulation to study the fluid heating in a nano scale Poiseuille flow system and discuss the effects of the fluid-wall interaction strength and wall temperature on the fluid heating. We calculate the fluid temperature distribution, as well as the heat flux from the fluid towards the walls and the interfacial thermal resistance and discuss the variations of the fluid heating caused by the viscous and surface frictions as the fluid-wall interaction strength and wall temperature vary. It is found that as the fluid-wall interactions strengthen, the fluid heating diminishes. In weak interactions, the heat flux from the fluid to the wall is almost independent of the wall temperature while the interfacial thermal resistance decreases with increased wall temperature and the surface friction is the major contribution to the fluid heating; in contrast, in large interactions, both the heat flux and thermal resistance increase with increased wall temperature and the viscous friction is the major contribution to the fluid heating.