Hydrodynamic phenomena at the nano and mesoscales can be expected to exhibit a variety of new phenomena which will have important consequences for nanotribology and boundary lubrication. In boundary lubrication, when the lubricating layer is molecularly thin, and has extremely strong nonlinear interactions with its substrate. Thus a much more complex fluid dynamics can be expected than is observed in macroscopic boundary layers. Common theoretical approaches to this problem include studies of nonlinear dynamical systems consisting of several particles moving between two plates, and molecular dynamics simulations of ensembles of a finite number of particles. We are interested in pursuing a new field of research -- nanohydrodynamics. That is the phenomena exhibited by fluid films at the nanoscale where surface interactions can dominate bulk dissipation.
The effect of stick-slip boundary conditions can be significant and lead to unexpected consequences such as the appearance of noise-induced coherent dissipative structures on the micron scale. These are generated due to cooperation between the external drive and the thermal noise. Simulations also show that as a function of the thermal noise these structures show a peak in their amplitudes similar to stochastic resonance. At low velocities a reduction in friction with increasing thermal noise is observed.
I. Tovstopyat-Nelip and H.G.E. Hentschel, Friction and Noise Induced Coherent Structures in Boundary Lubrication. Phys. Rev. E61, 3318 (2000).
