Inverse Design for Nanoscale Heat Transport

Giuseppe Romano

Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA,

Monday 12th December 2022

15:30:00

On-line

How to identify the geometry of a nanostructure given the desired effective thermal conductivity tensor? While several topology optimization methods have been developed for macroscale scenarios, they can’t be readily applied to nanoscale devices. In fact, when the feature size of the material becomes comparable with the particles’ mean-free path, flux becomes nondiffusive, and a momentum-resolved model is needed. On the other side, standard material interpolation methods, such as SIMP, are mostly applied to averaged quantities, such as the local thermal conductivity. In this talk, I will discuss our recent attempt at solving this issue [1], based on a novel method, termed the “Transmission Interpolation Method” (TIM). Instead of working with locally resolved variables, TIM acts on the interfacial phonon flux and links it to the material distribution. The talk will show the application of this approach to two examples: Tuning the effective thermal conductivity tensor of a nanostructure and maximizing phonon size effects. The talk will conclude with a demo and remarks for future developments. [1] Giuseppe Romano and Steven G Johnson, Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization 65, 297 (2022) Contatto: giulia.pozzi@polimi.it