Gas Flow Study in MEMS Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

Isothermal gas flows in two-dimensional microchannels are investigated with the lattice Boltzmann method. The slip velocity on the solid boundaries can be obtained reasonably when bounce–back reflection is combined with specular reflection in a certain proportion. Behaviors in the microchannel flow including velocity distribution, nonlinear pressure drop, and average friction factor are examined. The pressure distribution, the average friction factors and the mass flow rates are compared with those predicted by Arkilic’s model and experimental data and the agreement is reasonably good. Furthermore, the effects of bounce-back proportion r_b on the slip velocity are investigated and its value is chosen to be 0.7 to best match the data from Arkilic’s model and available experimental data.