Gas flow in microchannels can often experience tangential slip velocity at the solid surface even for flow at very low Reynolds number. The literature on the lattice Boltzmann method consistently reports on the ability and efficacy of the method to describe rarefied gas flow phenomena, such as velocity-slip and temperature jump. In this paper, the combination of the equilibrium distribution and bounce-back scheme (CEB) is extended to three-dimensional configurations to predict the slip velocity and temperature jump on solid boundaries. To validate the developed methodology, forced convection heat transfer in a three-dimensional microchannel is studied in the laminar slip-flow regime. The constant wall temperature boundary condition is implemented on the channel walls, and the flow is assumed to be hydrodynamically fully developed. The results predicted by the proposed CEB scheme are in excellent agreement with the analytical solution and the predictions of the Navier-Stokes based numerical model. The main conclusion of the present work is that lattice Boltzmann method combined with the CEB scheme is an effective and reliable method for simulating three-dimensional micro-scale gas flows.

slip-flow, heat transfer, Knudsen number, rarefaction, lattice Boltzmann method.