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The cylindrical Couette flow of a rarefied gas between a rotating inner cylinder and a stationary outer cylinder is investigated under the following two kinds of kinetic boundary conditions. One is the modified Maxwell-type boundary condition proposed by Dadzie and Méolans [J. Math. Phys. 45, 1804 (2004)] and the other is the Cercignani-Lampis condition, both of which have separate accommodation coefficients associated with the molecular velocity component normal to the boundary and with the tangential component. An asymptotic analysis of the Boltzmann equation for small Knudsen numbers and a numerical analysis of the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model equation for a wide range of the Knudsen number are performed to clarify the effect of each accommodation coefficient as well as of the boundary condition itself on the behavior of the gas, especially on the flow-velocity profile. As a result, the velocity-slip and temperature-jump conditions corresponding to the above kinetic boundary conditions are derived, which are necessary for the fluid-dynamic description of the problem for small Knudsen numbers. The parameter range for the onset of the velocity inversion phenomenon, which is related mainly to the decrease in the tangential momentum accommodation, is also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a comparative study of gaseous microflow systems using the recently introduced Fokker-Planck approach and other methods such as: direct simulation Monte Carlo, lattice Boltzmann, and variational solution of Boltzmann-BGK. We show that this Fokker-Plank approach performs efficiently at intermediate values of Knudsen number, a region where direct simulation Monte Carlo becomes expensive and lattice Boltzmann becomes inaccurate. We also investigate the effectiveness of a recently proposed Fokker-Planck model in simulations of heat transfer, as a function of relevant parameters such as the Prandtl, Knudsen numbers. Furthermore, we present simulation of shock wave as a function of Mach number in transonic regime. Our results suggest that the performance of the Fokker-Planck approach is superior to that of the other methods in transition regime for rarefied gas flow and transonic regime for shock wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rarefied gas flows generated by resonating nanomechanical structures pose a significant challenge to theoretical analysis and physical interpretation. The inherent noncontinuum nature of such flows obviates the use of classical theories, such as the Navier-Stokes equations, requiring more sophisticated physical treatments for their characterization. In this Letter, we present a universal dynamic similarity theorem: The quality factor of a nanoscale mechanical resonator at gas pressure P0 is α times that of a scaled-up microscale resonator at a reduced pressure αP0, where α is the ratio of nanoscale and microscale resonator sizes. This holds rigorously for any nanomechanical structure at all degrees of rarefaction, from continuum through to transition and free molecular flows. The theorem is demonstrated for a series of nanomechanical cantilever devices of different size, for which precise universal behavior is observed. This result is of significance for research aimed at probing the fundamental nature of rarefied gas flows and gas-structure interactions at nanometer length scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]