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Fractional calculus for nanoscale flow and heat transfer

Hong-Yan Liu (School of Fashion Technology, Zhongyuan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, China)
Ji-Huan He (National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, Soochow University, Suzhou, China)
Zheng-Biao Li (College of Mathematics and Information Science, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China)

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow

ISSN: 0961-5539

Article publication date: 29 July 2014

577

Abstract

Purpose

Academic and industrial researches on nanoscale flows and heat transfers are an area of increasing global interest, where fascinating phenomena are always observed, e.g. admirable water or air permeation and remarkable thermal conductivity. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the phenomena by the fractional calculus.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper begins with the continuum assumption in conventional theories, and then the fractional Gauss’ divergence theorems are used to derive fractional differential equations in fractal media. Fractional derivatives are introduced heuristically by the variational iteration method, and fractal derivatives are explained geometrically. Some effective analytical approaches to fractional differential equations, e.g. the variational iteration method, the homotopy perturbation method and the fractional complex transform, are outlined and the main solution processes are given.

Findings

Heat conduction in silk cocoon and ground water flow are modeled by the local fractional calculus, the solutions can explain well experimental observations.

Originality/value

Particular attention is paid throughout the paper to giving an intuitive grasp for fractional calculus. Most cited references are within last five years, catching the most frontier of the research. Some ideas on this review paper are first appeared.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant No. 61303236 and No.11372205 and Project for Six Kinds of Top Talents in Jiangsu Province under grant No. ZBZZ-035, Science & Technology Pillar Program of Jiangsu Province under grant No. BE2013072, Yunnan Province NSF grant No. 2011FB090.

Citation

Liu, H.-Y., He, J.-H. and Li, Z.-B. (2014), "Fractional calculus for nanoscale flow and heat transfer", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 1227-1250. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-07-2013-0240

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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