Title: Adjoint-based deviational Monte Carlo methods for phonon transport calculations

Abstract

In the field of linear transport, adjoint formulations exploit linearity to derive powerful reciprocity relations between a variety of quantities of interest. We develop an adjoint formulation of the linearized Boltzmann transport equation for phonon transport. We use this formulation for accelerating deviational Monte Carlo simulations of complex, multiscale problems. Benefits include significant computational savings via direct variance reduction, or by enabling formulations which allow more efficient use of computational resources, such as formulations which provide high resolution in a particular phase-space dimension (e.g., spectral). We show that the proposed adjoint-based methods are particularly well suited to problems involving a wide range of length scales (e.g., nanometers to hundreds of microns) and lead to computational methods that can calculate quantities of interest with a cost that is independent of the system characteristic length scale, thus removing the traditional stiffness of kinetic descriptions. Applications to problems of current interest, such as simulation of transient thermoreflectance experiments or spectrally resolved calculation of the effective thermal conductivity of nanostructured materials, are presented and discussed in detail.

Authors:

Péraud, Jean-Philippe M. ^[1]; Hadjiconstantinou, Nicolas G. ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Publication Date:

Tue Jun 30 00:00:00 EDT 2015

Research Org.:

Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1370983

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1198571

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 91; Journal Issue: 23; Journal ID: ISSN 1098-0121

Publisher:

American Physical Society (APS)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

42 ENGINEERING