Effects of solid-liquid intermolecular interactions on liquid flow and heat transfer in microtubes

Abstract

This paper investigates the laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics of liquid in microtubes by considering the solid-liquid intermolecular interactions. We propose an apparent viscosity model of liquid from the wetting theory and the Hamaker theory to account for the interface effect. The numerical simulation considering this model is conducted to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics of liquid in microtubes. Simulation results indicate that the flow and heat transfer characteristics such as velocity distribution, pressure drop, flow friction and heat transfer coefficient deviate from the predictions of the conventional theory. The deviation increases as the hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity increases, and decreases as the diameter of the microtube increases.