An Efficient Moment Method for Modelling Nanoporous Evaporation

Evaporation is an effective cooling mechanism widely exploited in the thermal management of modern electronic devices, with a growing interest in the industry in the evaporation process of thin-film-based nanoporous membrane technologies. At these nanoscales, the accuracy of the Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) equations is reduced, as domain sizes become comparable to the mean free path in the vapour. Here, we investigate the applicability of higher moment methods, derived from the Boltzmann equation, for simulating evaporation from a nanoporous membrane. Solutions to these are compared to solutions of the Boltzmann equation obtained by the method of direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC). The aim is to provide computationally cheap methods of simulating nanoscale flow regimes, to aid the design of nanoporous membrane- based cooling devices.