Heat Conduction In Lattices Research Articles

Energy diffusion in two-dimensional momentum-conserving nonlinear lattices: Lévy walk and renormalized phonon.

The energy diffusion process in a few two-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-type lattices is numerically simulated via the equilibrium local energy spatiotemporal correlation. Just as the nonlinear fluctuating hydrodynamic theory suggested, the diffusion propagator consists of a bell-shaped central heat mode and a sound mode extending with a constant speed. The profiles of the heat and sound modes satisfy the scaling properties from a random-walk-with-velocity-fluctuation process very well. An effective phonon approach is proposed, which expects the frequencies of renormalized phonons as well as the sound speed with quite good accuracy. Since many existing analytical and numerical studies indicate that heat conduction in such two-dimensional momentum-conserving lattices is divergent and the thermal conductivity κ increases logarithmically with lattice length, it is expected that the mean-square displacement of energy diffusion grows as tlnt. Discrepancies, however, are noticeably observed.

Thermal-siphon phenomenon and thermal/electric conduction in complex networks.

In past decades, a lot of studies have been carried out on complex networks and heat conduction in regular lattices. However, very little attention has been paid to the heat conduction in complex networks. In this work, we study (both thermal and electric) energy transport in physical networks rewired from 2D regular lattices. It is found that the network can be transferred from a good conductor to a poor conductor, depending on the rewired network structure and coupling scheme. Two interesting phenomena were discovered: (i) the thermal-siphon effect—namely the heat flux can go from a low-temperature node to a higher-temperature node and (ii) there exits an optimal network structure that displays small thermal conductance and large electrical conductance. These discoveries reveal that network-structured materials have great potential in applications in thermal-energy management and thermal-electric-energy conversion.

Size Dependent Heat Conduction in One-Dimensional Diatomic Lattices

We study the size dependency of heat conduction in one-dimensional diatomic FPU-β lattices and establish that for low dimensional material, contribution from optical phonons is found more effective to the thermal conductivity and enhance heat transport in the thermodynamic limit N → ∞. For the finite size, thermal conductivity of 1D diatomic lattice is found to be lower than 1D monoatomic chain of the same size made up of the constituent particle of the diatomic chain. For the present 1D diatomic chain, obtained value of power divergent exponent of thermal conductivity 0.428±0.001 and diffusion exponent 1.2723 lead to the conclusions that increase in the system size, increases the thermal conductivity and existence of anomalous energy diffusion. Existing numerical data supports our findings.

A nonlocal Fourier's law and its application to the heat conduction of one-dimensional and two-dimensional thermal lattices

Abstract This study focuses on heat conduction in unidimensional lattices also known as microstructured rods. The lattice thermal properties can be representative of concentrated thermal interface phases in one-dimensional segmented rods. The exact solution of the linear time-dependent spatial difference equation associated with the lattice problem is presented for some given initial and boundary conditions. This exact solution is compared to the quasicontinuum approximation built by continualization of the lattice equations. A rational-based asymptotic expansion of the pseudo-differential problem leads to an equivalent nonlocal-type Fourier's law. The differential nonlocal Fourier's law is analysed with respect to thermodynamic models available in the literature, such as the Guyer–Krumhansl-type equation. The length scale of the nonlocal heat law is calibrated with respect to the lattice spacing. An error analysis is conducted for quantifying the efficiency of the nonlocal model to capture the lattice evolution problem, as compared to the local model. The propagation of error with the nonlocal model is much slower than that in its local counterpart. A two-dimensional thermal lattice is also considered and approximated by a two-dimensional nonlocal heat problem. It is shown that nonlocal and continualized heat equations both approximate efficiently the two-dimensional thermal lattice response. These extended continuous heat models are shown to be good candidates for approximating the heat transfer behaviour of microstructured rods or membranes.

Stretch diffusion and heat conduction in one-dimensional nonlinear lattices.

For heat conduction in one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear Hamiltonian lattices, it has been known that conserved quantities play an important role in determining the actual heat conduction behavior. In closed or microcanonical Hamiltonian systems, the total energy and stretch are always conserved. Depending on the existence of external on-site potential, the total momentum can be conserved or not. All the momentum-conserving lattices have anomalous heat conduction except the 1D coupled rotator lattice. It was recently claimed that "whenever stretch (momentum) is not conserved in a 1D model, the momentum (stretch) and energy fields exhibit normal diffusion." The stretch in a coupled rotator lattice was also argued to be nonconserved due to the requirement of a finite partition function, which enables the coupled rotator lattice to fulfill this claim. In this work, we will systematically investigate stretch diffusion and heat conduction in terms of energy diffusion for typical 1D nonlinear lattices. Contrary to what was claimed, no clear connection between conserved quantities and heat conduction can be established. The actual situation might be more complicated than what was proposed.

Deviation from the Maxwell-Cattaneo law: Role of asymmetric interparticle interactions.

Nonstationary heat conduction in a few one-dimensional nonlinear lattices is studied numerically based on the Maxwell-Cattaneo (MC) law. We simulate the relaxation process and calculate the magnitudes of the temperature oscillation A(T)(t) and the local heat current oscillation A(j)(t). A phase difference between A(T)(t) and A(j)(t) is observed, which not only verifies the existence of the time lag τ in the MC law but also provides a better way of determining the critical wavelength L(*) that separates between oscillatory and diffusive relaxation modes. However, clear deviations from the MC law are observed. Not only do the decay exponents differ from the theoretical expectations, but, more importantly, suboscillation in the diffusive regime, which is not expected by the MC law, is found in the lattices with asymmetric interactions as well. These findings imply that higher-order effects must be considered in order to well describe the nonstationary heat conduction process in these systems.

Super heat diffusion in one-dimensional momentum-conserving nonlinear lattices.

Heat diffusion processes in various one-dimensional total-momentum-conserving nonlinear lattices with symmetric interaction and asymmetric interaction are systematically studied. It is revealed that the asymmetry of interaction largely enhances the heat diffusion; while according to our existing studies for heat conduction in the same lattices, it slows the divergence of heat conductivity in a wide regime of system size. These findings violate the proposed relations that connect anomalous heat conduction and super heat diffusion. The generality of those expectations is thus questioned.

Validity of Fourier's law in one-dimensional momentum-conserving lattices with asymmetric interparticle interactions

We have numerically studied heat conduction in a few one-dimensional momentum-conserving lattices with asymmetric interparticle interactions by the nonequilibrium heat bath method, the equilibrium Green-Kubo method, and the heat current power spectra analysis. Very strong finite-size effects are clearly observed. Such effects make the heat conduction obey a Fourier-like law in a wide range of lattice lengths. However, in yet longer lattice lengths, the heat conductivity regains its power-law divergence. Therefore, the power-law divergence of the heat conductivity in the thermodynamic limit is verified, as is expected by many existing theories.

Anharmonicity Dependent Heat Conduction in One-Dimensional Lattices

The temperature profile, heat flux and thermal conductivity are investigated for the chain length of 67 one-dimensional (1-D) oscillators. FPU-β and FK models are used for interparticle interactions and substrate interactions, respectively. As harmonic chain does not produce temperature gradient along the chain, it is required to introduce anharmonicity in the numerical simulation. The anharmonicity dependent temperature profile, thermal conductivity and heat flux are simulated for different strength of anharmonicity β = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1. It is concluded that heat flux obeys J = 0.3947 e0.553β with R2 = 0.9319 and thermal conductivity obeys κ = 0.0276 e0.5559β with R2 = 0.9319.

Logarithmic divergent thermal conductivity in two-dimensional nonlinear lattices

Heat conduction in three two-dimensional (2D) momentum-conserving nonlinear lattices are numerically calculated via both nonequilibrium heat-bath and equilibrium Green-Kubo algorithms. It is expected by mainstream theories that heat conduction in such 2D lattices is divergent and the thermal conductivity κ increases with lattice length N logarithmically. Our simulations for the purely quartic lattice firmly confirm it. However, very robust finite-size effects are observed in the calculations for the other two lattices, which well explain some existing studies and imply the extreme difficulties in observing their true asymptotic behaviors with affordable computation resources.

Heat conduction in deformable Frenkel-Kontorova lattices: Thermal conductivity and negative differential thermal resistance

Heat conduction through the Frenkel-Kontorova lattices is numerically investigated in the presence of a deformable substrate potential. It is found that the deformation of the substrate potential has a strong influence on heat conduction. The thermal conductivity as a function of the shape parameter is nonmonotonic. The deformation can enhance thermal conductivity greatly, and there exists an optimal deformable value at which thermal conductivity takes its maximum. Remarkably, we also find that the deformation can facilitate the appearance of the negative differential thermal resistance.

Heat Conduction in a Three-Dimensional Momentum-Conserving Anharmonic Lattice

Heat conduction in three-dimensional anharmonic lattices was numerically studied by the Green-Kubo theory. For a given lattice width W, a dimensional crossover is generally observed to occur at a W-dependent threshold of the lattice length. Lattices shorter than W will display a 3D behavior while lattices longer than W will display a 1D behavior. In the 3D regime, the heat current autocorrelation function was found to show a power-law decay as a function of the time lag τ as τ^{β} with β=-1.2. This indicates normal heat conduction. However, the decay exponent deviates significantly from the conventional theoretical value of β=-1.5. A flat power spectrum S(ω) of the global heat current in the low-frequency limit was also observed in the 3D regime. This provides not only an alternative verification of normal heat conduction but also a clear physical insight into its origin.

Heat conduction in the nonlinear response regime: Scaling, boundary jumps, and negative differential thermal resistance

We report a numerical study on heat conduction in one-dimensional homogeneous lattices in both the linear and the nonlinear response regime, with a comparison among three prototypical nonlinear lattice models. In the nonlinear response regime, negative differential thermal resistance (NDTR) can occur in both the Frenkel-Kontorova model and the phi4 model. In the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam- beta model, however, only positive differential thermal resistance can be observed, as shown by a monotonous power-law dependence of the heat flux on the applied temperature difference. In general, it was found that NDTR can occur if there is nonlinearity in the onsite potential of the lattice model. It was also found that the regime of NDTR becomes smaller as the system size increases, and eventually vanishes in the thermodynamic limit. For the phi4 model, a phenomenological description of the size-induced crossover from the existence to the nonexistence of a NDTR regime is provided.

Thermal conductivity of anharmonic lattices: Effective phonons and quantum corrections

We compare two effective phonon theories, which have both been applied recently to study heat conduction in anharmonic lattices. In particular, we study the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam beta model via the Debye formula, showing the equivalence of both approaches. The temperature for the minimum of the thermal conductivity and the corresponding scaling behavior are analytically calculated, which agree well with the result obtained from nonequilibrium simulations. We also give quantum corrections for the thermal conductivity from quantum self-consistent phonon theory. The vanishing behavior at the low temperature regime and the existence of an umklapp peak are qualitatively consistent with experimental studies.

Anomalous Heat Conduction in Three-Dimensional Nonlinear Lattices

Heat conduction in three-dimenisional nonlinear lattice models is studied using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We employ the FPU model, in which there exists a nonlinearity in the interaction of biquadratic form. It is confirmed that the thermal conductivity, the ratio of the energy flux to the temperature gradient, diverges in systems up to 128x128x256 lattice sites. This size corresponds to nanoscopic to mesoscopic scales of several tens of nanometers. From these results, we conjecture that the energy transport in insulators with perfect crystalline order exhibits anomalous behavior. The effects of lattice structure, random impurities, and natural length in interactions are also examined. We find that face-centered cubic (fcc) lattices display stronger divergence than simple cubic lattices. When impurity sites of infinitely large mass, which are hence fixed, are randomly distributed, such divergence vanishes.

Divergent Thermal Conductivity in Three-Dimensional Nonlinear Lattices

Heat conduction in three-dimensional nonlinear lattices is investigated using particle dynamics simulations. The system is a simple three-dimensional extension of the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam β nonlinear lattices, in which the interparticle potential has a biquadratic term together with a harmonic term. The system size is L × L ×2 L , and the heat is made to flow in the 2 L direction using the Nosé–Hoover method. Although a linear temperature profile is realized, the ratio of energy flux to temperature gradient shows logarithmic divergence with L . The autocorrelation function of energy flux C ( t ) is observed to show power-law decay as t -0.98±0.25 , which is slower than the decay in conventional momentum-conserving three-dimensional systems ( t -3/2 ). Similar behavior is also observed in the four-dimensional system.

Asymmetric Heat Conduction in Nonlinear Lattices

In this Letter, we conduct an extensive study of the two-segment Frenkel-Kontorova model. We show that the rectification effect of the heat flux reported in recent literature is possible only in the weak interfacial coupling limit. The rectification effect will be reversed when the properties of the interface and the system size change. These two types of asymmetric heat conduction are governed by different mechanisms though both are induced by nonlinearity. An intuitive physical picture is proposed to interpret the reversal of the rectification effect. Since asymmetric heat conduction depends critically on the properties of the interface and the system size, it is probably not an easy task to fabricate a thermal rectifier or thermal diode in practice.

Heat conduction in one-dimensional oscillator lattices using Nosé–Hoover chain thermostats

In this work, we numerically study the dynamical evolution and heat transport properties of a system that consists of two time-reversible thermostats connected either by a one-dimensional Fermi–Pasta–Ulam or a Frenkel–Kontorova oscillator lattice, which are representative models of momentum-conserving and nonconserving systems, respectively. The thermostats were described by a chain of variables, Nose–Hoover chains, which enhances the ergodicity of the thermostats in comparison to the Nose–Hoover method. The time evolution of both lattices is not significantly altered by the dynamics of the thermostats. The temperature profile and heat flux of the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam model are more sensitive to the dynamics of the extended variables than those corresponding to the Frenkel–Kontorova model. Nevertheless we reproduce the scaling properties of the thermal conductivity with system size obtained by other authors.

Studies of thermal conductivity in Fermi–Pasta–Ulam-like lattices

The pioneering computer simulations of the energy relaxation mechanisms performed by Fermi, Pasta, and Ulam (FPU) can be considered as the first attempt of understanding energy relaxation and thus heat conduction in lattices of nonlinear oscillators. In this paper we describe the most recent achievements about the divergence of heat conductivity with the system size in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional FPU-like lattices. The anomalous behavior is particularly evident at low energies, where it is enhanced by the quasiharmonic character of the lattice dynamics. Remarkably, anomalies persist also in the strongly chaotic region where long-time tails develop in the current autocorrelation function. A modal analysis of the 1D case is also presented in order to gain further insight about the role played by boundary conditions.

Anomalous heat conduction and anomalous diffusion in nonlinear lattices, single walled nanotubes, and billiard gas channels

We study anomalous heat conduction and anomalous diffusion in low-dimensional systems ranging from nonlinear lattices, single walled carbon nanotubes, to billiard gas channels. We find that in all discussed systems, the anomalous heat conductivity can be connected with the anomalous diffusion, namely, if energy diffusion is sigma(2)(t)=2Dt(alpha) (0<alpha< or =2), then the thermal conductivity can be expressed in terms of the system size L as kappa=cL(beta) with beta=2-2/alpha. This result predicts that a normal diffusion (alpha=1) implies a normal heat conduction obeying the Fourier law (beta=0), a superdiffusion (alpha>1) implies an anomalous heat conduction with a divergent thermal conductivity (beta>0), and more interestingly, a subdiffusion (alpha<1) implies an anomalous heat conduction with a convergent thermal conductivity (beta<0), consequently, the system is a thermal insulator in the thermodynamic limit. Existing numerical data support our theoretical prediction.