Simulation of fluid slip at 3D hydrophobic microchannel walls by the lattice Boltzmann method

Fluid slip along hydrophobic microchannel walls has been observed experimentally by Tretheway and Meinhart [Phys. Fluids, 14 (3) (2002) L9]. In this paper, we show how fluid slip can be modeled by the lattice Boltzmann method and investigate a proposed mechanism for the apparent fluid slip [Phys. Fluids (2003)]. By applying an exponentially decaying hydrophobic repulsive force of 4 x 10(-3) dyn/cm(3) with a decay length of 6.5 nm, an effective fluid slip of 9% of the main stream velocity is obtained. The result is consistent with experimental mu-PIV data and with the proposed mechanism. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.