Project name: Novel unified multiscale predictive tool for gaseous microfluidic flows in Knudsen Pumps
Project code: MUKPUMP
Project timeline: 2025 - 2026
Research group: Energy and Fluid Mechanics
Objective
This project proposes the development of a computational tool that accommodates different physical scales within a single gas flow model, based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The application goal targets Knudsen Pump (KP) devices: an innovative microfluidic concept to generate and control gas flows through thermal gradients. The project main idea explores the LBM intrinsic link between the lattice structure and the accuracy of the physical model to capture. The innovative step consists in permitting the lattice to self-adjust according to the local flow regime scale, a strategy readily attainable within the LBM algorithm. The approach is inspired on self-adaptive mesh refinement concepts but applied to the LBM velocity space discretization, so that instead of looking for under-resolved velocity gradient regions, it monitors the non-equilibrium degree of the physical solution to regulate the lattice local structure. This way, multiple flow physical regimes can be handled within the same framework, which is a large favoring point over hybrid methods. These singular traits render the unified multiscale LBM framework to be developed in this project a promising prediction tool for micro/nanofluidic gas flow applications, particularly for KP devices.
