Diffusive-ballistic heat transport in thin films using energy conserving dissipative particle dynamics

Diffusive-ballistic heat transport in thin films was simulated using energy conserving dissipative particle dynamics (DPDe). The solution domain was considered to be two-dimensional with DPD particles distributed uniformly under constant temperature boundary conditions at the top and bottom walls and periodic boundaries at the side walls. The effects of phonon mean free path were incorporated by its relation to the cutoff radius of energy interaction. This cutoff radius was based on the Knudsen number using the existing phonon-boundary scattering models. The simulations for 0.1 < Kn < 10 were obtained with the different modifications of the cutoff radius. The results were presented in form of a nondimensional temperature profile across the thin film and were compared with the semi-analytical solution of the equation of phonon radiative transport (EPRT). When the phonon-boundary scattering is not considered, the DPDe simulation results have more discrepancies compared with the EPRT solution as Kn increases, indicating that the phonon-boundary scattering plays an important role when the heat transport across the film becomes more ballistic. The results demonstrate that the DPDe can simulate the diffusive-ballistic heat transport for a broad range of Kn, but phonon-boundary scattering should be considered for the accurate simulation of the ballistic heat transport. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.