Principal Investigator Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou
Project Website http://web.mit.edu/ngh-group/
When characteristic transport lengthscales approach the molecular mean free path associated with the particular transport carrier, macroscopic closures (e.g. Fourier's Law) and associated macroscopic descriptions fail. In these regimes, kinetic theory approaches, for example, the Boltzmann transport equation, may be used. In this group we use theoretical approaches including simulation, to study transport at small scales for a number of applications. Recent work has focused on nanoscale gas transport, as well as nanoscale solid-state heat transfer as mediated by phonons.