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In this study, effect of surface roughness on convective heat transfer and fluid flow in two dimensional parallel plate microchannels is analyzed by numerically. For this purpose, single-phase, developing, laminar fluid flow at steady state and in the slip flow regime is considered. The continuity, momentum, and energy equations for Newtonian fluids are solved numerically for constant wall temperature boundary condition. Slip velocity and temperature jump at wall boundaries are imposed to observe the rarefaction effect. Effect of axial conduction inside the fluid and viscous dissipation also considered separately. Roughness elements on the surfaces are simulated by triangular geometrical obstructions. Then, the effect of these roughness elements on the velocity field and Nusselt number are compared to the results obtained from the analyses of flows in microchannels with smooth surfaces. It is found that increasing surface roughness reduces the heat transfer at continuum conditions. However in slip flow regime, increase in Nusselt number with increasing roughness height is observed. Moreover, this increase is found to be more obvious at low rarefied flows. It is also found that presence of axial conduction and viscous dissipation has increasing effect on heat transfer in smooth and rough channels.

The Thesis describes (i) the development of add-on instrumentation extending the capabilities of conventional NMR spectrometers and (ii) the application of the designed equipments and techniques for investigating various colloidal systems. The new equipments are: Novel designs of stopped-flow and temperature–jump inserts intended for conventional Bruker wide-bore superconductive magnets. Both inserts are loaded directly from above into the probe space and can be used together with any 10 mm NMR probe with no need for any auxiliary instruments. A set of 5 mm and 10 mm 1H – 19F – 2H NMR probes designed for heteronuclear 1H – 19F cross-relaxation experiments in Bruker DMX 200, AMX 300 and DMX 500 spectrometers, respectively. A two–stage low-pass filter intended for suppressing RF noise in electrophoretic NMR experiments. The kinetics of micellar dissolution and transformation in aqueous solutions of sodium perfluorooctanoate (NaPFO) is investigated using the stopped-flow NMR instrument. The sensitivity of NMR as detection tool for kinetic processes in micellar solutions is clarified and possible artefacts are analysed. In the NaPFO system, the micellar dissolution is found to proceed faster than 100 ms while surfactant precipitation occurs on the time scale of seconds-to-minutes. The kinetics of the coil-to–globule transition and intermolecular aggregation in a poly (Nisopropylacrylamide) solution are investigated by the temperature-jump NMR instrument. As revealed by the time evolution of the 1H spectrum, the T2 relaxation time and the self-diffusion coefficient D, large (>10 nm) and compact aggregates form in less than 1 second upon fast temperature increase and dissolve in less than 3 seconds upon fast temperature decrease. The intermolecular 1H – 19F dipole-dipole cross-relaxation between the solvent and solute molecules, whose fast rotational diffusion is in the extreme narrowing limit, is investigated. The solutes are perfluorooctanoate ions either in monomeric or in micellar form and trifluoroacetic acid and the solvent is water. The obtained cross-relaxation rates are frequency-dependent which clearly proves that there is no extreme narrowing regime for intermolecular dipole-dipole relaxation. The data provide strong constraints for the dynamic retardation of solvent by the solute. / QC 20100929

This dissertation focuses on the effects of heating on superhydrophobic (SHPo) surfaces. The work is divided into two main categories: heat transfer without mass transfer and heat transfer in conjunction with mass transfer. Numerical methods are used to explore the prior while experimental methods are utilized for the latter. The numerical work explores convective heat transfer in SHPo parallel plate microchannels and is separated into two stand-alone chapters that have been published archivally. The first considers surfaces with a rib/cavity structure and the second considers surfaces patterned with a square lattice of square posts. Laminar, fully developed, steady flow with constant fluid properties is considered where the tops of the ribs and posts are maintained at a constant heat flux boundary condition and the gas/liquid interfaces are assumed to be adiabatic. For both surface configurations the overall convective heat transfer is reduced. Results are presented in the form of average Nusselt number as well as apparent temperature jump length (thermal slip length). The heat transfer reduction is magnified by increasing cavity fraction, decreasing Peclet number, and decreasing channel size relative to the micro-structure spacing. Axial fluid conduction is found to be substantial at high Peclet numbers where it is classically neglected. The parameter regimes where prior analytical works found in the literature are valid are delineated. The experimental work is divided into two stand-alone chapters with one considering channel flow and the other a pool scenario. The channel work considers high aspect ratio microchannels with one heated SHPo wall. If water saturated with dissolved air is used, the air-filled cavities of SHPo surfaces act as nucleation sites for mass transfer. As the water heats it becomes supersaturated and air can effervesce onto the SHPo surface forming bubbles that align to the underlying micro-structure if the cavities are comprised of closed cells. The large bubbles increase drag in the channel and reduce heat transfer. Once the bubbles grow large enough, they are expelled from the channel and the nucleation and growth cycle begins again. The pool work considers submerged, heated SHPo surfaces such that the nucleation behavior can be explored in the absence of forced fluid flow. The surface is maintained at a constant temperature and a range of temperatures (40 - 90 °C) are explored. Similar nucleation behavior to that of the microchannels is observed, however, the bubbles are not expelled. Natural convection coefficients are computed. The surfaces with the greatest amount of nucleation show a significant reduction in convection coefficient, relative to a smooth hydrophilic surface, due to the insulating bubble layer.

Considerable jump and slip phenomena are observed at the non-equilibrium phase interface in microflows. Hence, accurate modelling of the liquid-vapour interface transport mechanisms that matches the observations is required, e.g. in applications such as micro/nanotechnology and micro fuel cells. In the sharp interface model, the classical Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) equations can be used in the liquid and vapour phases, while the interface resistivities describe the jump and slip phenomena at the interface. However, resistivities are challenging to find from the measurements, and most of the classical kinetic theories consider them as constants. One possible approach is to determine them from a model that resolves the phase interface. In order to resolve the interface and the transport processes at and in front of the interface in high resolutions, there are two ways in general, microscopic or macroscopic. The microscopic studies are based either on molecular dynamics (MD) or kinetic models, such as the Enskog-Vlasov (EV) equation. The EV equation modifies the Boltzmann equation by considering dense gas effects, such as the interaction forces between the particles and their finite size. It can be solved by the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, which considers sample particles that stand in for thousands to hundred thousands of particles and determine most likely collisions based on interaction probabilities, but it is time-consuming and costly. Here, a closed set of 26-moment equations is numerically solved to resolve the liquid-vapour interface macroscopically while considering the dense gas and phase change effects. The 26-moment set of equations is derived by Struchtrup & Frezzotti as an approximation of the EV equation using Grad's moment method. The macroscopic moment equations resolve the phase interface in a high resolution competitive to the microscopic studies. The resolved interface visualizes the interface structure and the changes of the system variables between the two phases at the interface. The 26-moment equations are solved for a one-dimensional steady-state system for non-equilibrium evaporation/condensation process. Then, solutions are used to find the jump and slip conditions at the interface, which leads to determining the interface resistivities at different interface temperatures and non-equilibrium strengths from the Linear Irreversible Thermodynamics (LIT). The interface resistivities show their dependence on the temperature of the liquid at the interface as well as the strength of the non-equilibrium process. As a result, in further studies, similar systems can be modelled using the sharp interface method with the appropriate jump conditions at the phase interface that can be found from the determined EV interface resistivities. / Graduate

Due to failure of the continuum hypothesis for higher Knudsen numbers, rarefied gases and microflows of gases are particularly difficult to model. Macroscopic transport equations compete with particle methods, such as the direct simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) to find accurate solutions in the rarefied gas regime. Due to growing interest in micro flow applications, such as micro fuel cells, it is important to model and understand evaporation in this flow regime. To gain a better understanding of evaporation physics, a non-steady simulation for slow evaporation in a microscopic system, based on the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations, is conducted. The one-dimensional problem consists of a liquid and vapor layer (both pure water) with respective heights of 0.1mm and a corresponding Knudsen number of Kn=0.01, where vapor is pumped out. The simulation allows for calculation of the evaporation rate within both the transient process and in steady state. The main contribution of this work is the derivation of new evaporation boundary conditions for the R13 equations, which are macroscopic transport equations with proven applicability in the transition regime. The approach for deriving the boundary conditions is based on an entropy balance, which is integrated around the liquid-vapor interface. The new equations utilize Onsager relations, linear relations between thermodynamic fluxes and forces, with constant coefficients that need to be determined. For this, the boundary conditions are fitted to DSMC data and compared to other R13 boundary conditions from kinetic theory and Navier-Stokes-Fourier solutions for two steady-state, one-dimensional problems. Overall, the suggested fittings of the new phenomenological boundary conditions show better agreement to DSMC than the alternative kinetic theory evaporation boundary conditions for R13. Furthermore, the new evaporation boundary conditions for R13 are implemented in a code for the numerical solution of complex, two-dimensional geometries and compared to Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) solutions. Different flow patterns between R13 and NSF for higher Knudsen numbers are observed which suggest continuation of this work. / Graduate

The fast-paced growth in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microfluidic fabrication, porous media applications, biomedical assemblies, space propulsion, and vacuum technology demands accurate and practical transport equations for rarefied gas flows. It is well-known that in rarefied situations, due to strong deviations from the continuum regime, traditional fluid models such as Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) fail. The shortcoming of continuum models is rooted in nonequilibrium behavior of gas particles in miniaturized and/or low-pressure devices, where the Knudsen number (Kn) is sufficiently large. Since kinetic solutions are computationally very expensive, there has been a great desire to develop macroscopic transport equations for dilute gas flows, and as a result, several sets of extended equations are proposed for gas flow in nonequilibrium states. However, applications of many of these extended equations are limited due to their instabilities and/or the absence of suitable boundary conditions. In this work, we concentrate on regularized 13-moment (R13) equations, which are a set of macroscopic transport equations for flows in the transition regime, i.e., Kn≤1. The R13 system provides a stable set of equations in Super-Burnett order, with a great potential to be a powerful CFD tool for rarefied flow simulations at moderate Knudsen numbers. The goal of this research is to implement the R13 equations for problems of practical interest in arbitrary geometries. This is done by transformation of the R13 equations and boundary conditions into general curvilinear coordinate systems. Next steps include adaptation of the transformed equations in order to solve some of the popular test cases, i.e., shear-driven, force-driven, and temperature-driven flows in both planar and curved flow passages. It is shown that inexpensive analytical solutions of the R13 equations for the considered problems are comparable to expensive numerical solutions of the Boltzmann equation. The new results present a wide range of linear and nonlinear rarefaction effects which alter the classical flow patterns both in the bulk and near boundary regions. Among these, multiple Knudsen boundary layers (mechanocaloric heat flows) and their influence on mass and energy transfer must be highlighted. Furthermore, the phenomenon of temperature dip and Knudsen paradox in Poiseuille flow; Onsager's reciprocity relation, two-way flow pattern, and thermomolecular pressure difference in simultaneous Poiseuille and transpiration flows are described theoretically. Through comparisons it is shown that for Knudsen numbers up to 0.5 the compact R13 solutions exhibit a good agreement with expensive solutions of the Boltzmann equation.