Hybrid continuum-molecular modeling of fluid slip flow

Experiments on fluid systems in micro-/nano-scale solid conveyors have shown a violation of the no-slip assumption that has been adopted by the classical fluid mechanics. To correct this mechanics for the fluid slip, various approaches have been proposed to determine the slip boundary conditions. However, these approaches have revealed contradictory results for a variety of systems, and a debate on the mechanisms and the conditions of the fluid slip/no-slip past solid surfaces is sustained for a long time. In this paper, we establish the hybrid continuum-molecular modeling (HCMM) as a general approach of modeling the fluid slip flow under the influence of excess fluid–solid molecular interactions. This modeling approach postulates that fluids flow over solid surfaces with/without slip depending on the difference between the applied impulse on the fluid and a drag due to the excess fluid–solid molecular interactions. In the HCMM, the Navier–Stokes equations are corrected for the excess fluid–solid interactions. Measures of the fluid–solid interactions are incorporated into the fluid’s viscosity. We demonstrate that the correction of the fluid mechanics by the slip boundary conditions is not an accurate approach, as the fluid–solid interactions would impact the fluid internally. To show the effectiveness of the proposed HCMM, it is implemented for the water flow in nanotubes. The HCMM is validated by an extensive comparison with over 90 cases of experiments and molecular dynamics simulations of different fluid systems. We foresee that the HCMM of the fluid slip flow will find many important implementations in fluid mechanics.