Anisotropic thermal conductivity of a fluid in a system of microscopic slit pores

Abstract
We report nonequilibrium-molecular-dynamics studies of a simple fluid in an infinite system of plane slit micropores, with walls of variable permeability. Our results show that the thermal conductivity of fluids in such constrained geometry can exhibit strong anisotropy, especially when the pore walls are almost impermeable. We show this in simulations of fluid systems for substances that are only anisotropic on an atomic, as opposed to a macroscopic, scale.