Effect of surface roughness on gas flow in microchannels by molecular dynamics simulation

Understanding the effect of surface roughness on gas flow in microchannels is highly desirable in microfluidic devices. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation is applied to investigate the effect of the surface roughness on slip flow of gaseous argon in submicron platinum channels. The geometries of the surface roughness are modeled by triangular, rectangular, sinusoidal and randomly triangular waves respectively. The results show that the boundary conditions of velocity slip, including slip, no-slip and negative slip, depend not only on the Knudsen number but also on the surface roughness. Induced by the roughness, the slip length of gas microflow over a rough surface is less than that predicted by the Maxwell model and shows a non-linear relationship with the Knudsen number. The friction coefficient increases not only with decreasing the Knudsen number but also with increasing the surface roughness. The impacts of the surface roughness and the gas rarefaction on the friction coefficient of gas microflow are strongly coupled. The roughness geometry also shows significant effects on the boundary conditions and the friction characteristics. The distortion of the streamlines and the enhancement of the penetrability near the rough surface are demonstrated to be responsible for the roughness effect. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.