Lattice Boltzmann study of velocity, temperature, and concentration in micro-reactors

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer Vol. 53; no. 15; pp. 3175 - 3185
• Main Authors: Verma, Nishith, Mewes, Dieter, Luke, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied fluid mechanics; Applied sciences; Chemical engineering; Chemical reactions; Computational fluid dynamics; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fluidics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Heat transfer; Lattices; Mass transfer; Mathematical modeling; Mathematical models; Micro-flows; Micro-reactors; Physics; Rarefied gas dynamics; Reactors; Simulation; Slip flows; Transport; Two dimensional; Wall temperature; Micro-reactors; Mathematical modeling; Simulation; Heat transfer; Mass transfer; Micro-flows; Slip flow; Fluid mechanics; Temperature distribution; Rarefied gas flow; Boltzmann equation; Nusselt number; Velocity distribution; Modeling; Lattice model; Heat mass transfer; Numerical simulation; Microreactor; Microstructure; Microfluidics; Concentration distribution
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2010.03.009

The flow, temperature and concentration characteristics in micro-reactors are inherently different from those in macro-reactors. In the former, slip-flow is important. In the case of heterogeneous chemical reaction, jump in the wall temperature and concentration also occur. In this study, we describe the two-dimensional model simulation of the gas velocity, temperature, and concentration in micro-reactors, using lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM). Slip (or jump) in all three transport variables (flow, temperature, and concentration) are considered. The results show two-dimensional profiles of the velocity, temperature, and concentration in the reactors. Due to simultaneous heat and mass transfer, Nusselt number ( Nu) and Sherwood number ( Sh) are shown to be dependent on a number of variables, including Knudsen number ( Kn), transport accommodation coefficients, and the reaction rate. The results in this study assume significance from the perspective of understanding flow and transport characteristics in micro-reactors.