Three dimensional simulation of AC electrothermal pumping by lattice boltzmann method with non-uniform meshes using GPU

Qinlong Ren, Cho Lik Chan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Alternating current (AC) electrothermal flow induced by electric field and temperature gradient due to Joule heating or thermal boundary conditions in an aqueous solution have been widely used to manipulate the fluid flow in microfluidic systems. Due to the importance of pumping of electrolytes in microfluidics, AC electrothermal pumping has become an attractive research topic. As numerical modeling of AC electrothermal flow can be used to design and direct the experiments, there are a few efforts focusing on the simulations of electrothermal flow by different methods or commercial software. However, most of the simulations are limited in two dimensions because of the huge computational load in three dimensional cases. Due to the low cost, GPU makes high performance computing possible on personal computers since the advent of CUDA by NVIDIA in 2007. With thousands of cores, GPU can be used to accelerate the computational speed. As a mesoscale numerical method, lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been developed as a powerful numerical approach for heat transfer and fluid flow problems during the past two decades. LBM is very well suited for GPU computing. In the current work, LBM is applied to simulate 3D electrothermal pumping using GPU. To further save the memory of GPU and improve the computational efficiency, non-uniform LBM meshes are used. AC electrothermal pumping is presented in terms of electric field, Joule heating, temperature field, electrothermal forces, and fluid velocities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2nd Thermal and Fluid Engineering Summer Conference, TFESC 2017 and 4th International Workshop on Heat Transfer, IWHT 2017
PublisherBegell House Inc.
Pages797-811
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9781567004700
StatePublished - 2017
Event2nd Thermal and Fluid Engineering Summer Conference, TFESC 2017 and 4th International Workshop on Heat Transfer, IWHT 2017 - Las Vegas, United States
Duration: Apr 2 2017Apr 5 2017

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Thermal and Fluids Engineering Summer Conference
Volume2017-April
ISSN (Electronic)2379-1748

Conference

Conference2nd Thermal and Fluid Engineering Summer Conference, TFESC 2017 and 4th International Workshop on Heat Transfer, IWHT 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLas Vegas
Period4/2/174/5/17

Keywords

  • Alternating current
  • Coulomb force
  • Dielectric force
  • Electrothermal pumping
  • GPU computing
  • Joule heating
  • Lattice Boltzmann method
  • Non-uniform meshes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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