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The steady behaviour of a rarefied gas around a rotating sphere is studied numerically on the basis of the linearised ellipsoidal statistical model of the Boltzmann equation, also known as the ES model, and the Maxwell diffuse–specular boundary condition. It is demonstrated numerically that the normal derivative of the circumferential component of the flow velocity and that of the heat flux diverge on the boundary with a rate $s^{-1/2}$ , where $s$ is the normal distance from the boundary. Further, it is demonstrated that the diverging term is proportional to the magnitude of the jump discontinuity of the velocity distribution function on the boundary, which originates from the mismatch of the incoming and outgoing data on the boundary. The moment of force exerted on the sphere is also obtained for a wide range of the Knudsen number and for various values of the accommodation coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Boltzmann equation can be used to model rarefied gas flows in the transition or kinetic regime, i.e. for moderate to large Knudsen numbers. However, standard moment methods like Grad’s approach lack hyperbolicity of the equations. This can lead to instabilities and nonphysical solutions. Based on recent developments in this field we have recently derived a quadrature-based moment method leading to globally hyperbolic and rotationally invariant moment equations. We present a 1D five moment case of the equations and use numerical simulations to compare the new model with standard approaches. The tests are done with dedicated numerical methods to solve the new non-conservative moment equations. These first results using the new method show the accuracy of the new method and its benefits compared with Grad’s method or other existing models like discrete velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flows of a simple rarefied gas and gas mixtures are computed on the basis of the Boltzmann kinetic equation, which is solved by applying various versions of the conservative projection method, namely, a two-point method for a simple gas and gas mixtures with a small difference between the molecular masses and a multipoint method in the case of a large mass difference. Examples of steady and unsteady flows are computed in a wide range of Mach and Knudsen numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sound propagation through a binary mixture of rarefied gases in a semi-infinite space is investigated on the basis of the McCormack model to the linearized Boltzmann equation. The source of sound waves is an infinite and flat plate oscillating in the direction normal to its own plane. It is considered a fully established oscillation so that the solution of the kinetic equation depends on time harmonically. The diffuse scattering gas–surface interaction law is assumed as the boundary condition on the oscillatory plate. A realistic intermolecular potential based on experimental data for the transport coefficients of the mixture is employed in the calculations. Two mixtures of noble gases, namely, Helium–Argon and Helium–Xenon, are considered in order to investigate the influence of the molecular mass ratio of species on the problem. A wide range of the oscillation speed parameter, defined as the ratio of intermolecular collision frequency to sound frequency, is considered. The amplitudes and phases of the macrocharacteristics of the gas flow are calculated and the results are compared to those obtained for a single gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new numerical methodology associated with a unified treatment is presented to solve the Boltzmann–BGK equation of gas dynamics for the classical and quantum gases described by the Bose–Einstein and Fermi–Dirac statistics. Utilizing a class of globally-stiffly-accurate implicit–explicit Runge–Kutta scheme for the temporal evolution, associated with the discrete ordinate method for the quadratures in the momentum space and the weighted essentially non-oscillatory method for the spatial discretization, the proposed scheme is asymptotic-preserving and imposes no non-linear solver or requires the knowledge of fugacity and temperature to capture the flow structures in the hydrodynamic (Euler) limit. The proposed treatment overcomes the limitations found in the work by Yang and Muljadi (2011) [33] due to the non-linear nature of quantum relations, and can be applied in studying the dynamics of a gas with internal degrees of freedom with correct values of the ratio of specific heat for the flow regimes for all Knudsen numbers and energy wave lengths. The present methodology is numerically validated with the unified treatment by the one-dimensional shock tube problem and the two-dimensional Riemann problems for gases of arbitrary statistics. Descriptions of ideal quantum gases including rotational degrees of freedom have been successfully achieved under the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical analysis of the rarefied gas flow caused by a temperature gradient in the direction tangential to a wall through a planar channel of finite length is carried out based on the nonlinear Shakhov model of the Boltzmann kinetic equation. The Maxwell diffuse and Cercignani–Lampis gas–surface interaction models are provided as a boundary condition at solid walls. An implicit scheme for solution of the S-model kinetic equation was applied and the algorithm has been optimized for the use of massive parallelization in both physical and velocities spaces. The competition between rarefaction, gas–surface scattering model and temperature gradient effects on a gas flow is discussed in terms of both mass flow rate and streamwise heat flux. A comparison with available literature results has been carried out and showed a good agreement. It was found that the temperature gradient as well as the gas–surface scattering dynamics play a significant role for the highly rarefied gas flow, beginning from the transition flow regime. At the same time, under certain gas–surface scattering conditions a change of the value of temperature gradient does not affect the heat flux. For the weakly rarefied flow the temperature gradient effect on the mass flow rate is small for any gas–surface scattering condition, while the heat flux does not depend neither on value of temperature gradient nor choice and details of gas–surface scattering dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Boltzmann equation with an arbitrary intermolecular potential is solved by the fast spectral method. As examples, noble gases described by the Lennard-Jones potential are considered. The accuracy of the method is assessed by comparing both transport coefficients with variational solutions and mass/heat flow rates in Poiseuille/thermal transpiration flows with results from the discrete velocity method. The fast spectral method is then applied to Fourier and Couette flows between two parallel plates, and the influence of the intermolecular potential on various flow properties is investigated. It is found that for gas flows with the same rarefaction parameter, differences in the heat flux in Fourier flow and the shear stress in Couette flow are small. However, differences in other quantities such as density, temperature, and velocity can be very large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This article reviews rarefied gas flow computations based on nonlinear model Boltzmann equations using deterministic high-order gas-kinetic unified algorithms (GKUA) in phase space. The nonlinear Boltzmann model equations considered include the BGK model, the Shakhov model, the Ellipsoidal Statistical model and the Morse model. Several high-order gas-kinetic unified algorithms, which combine the discrete velocity ordinate method in velocity space and the compact high-order finite-difference schemes in physical space, are developed. The parallel strategies implemented with the accompanying algorithms are of equal importance. Accurate computations of rarefied gas flow problems using various kinetic models over wide ranges of Mach numbers 1.2–20 and Knudsen numbers 0.0001–5 are reported. The effects of different high resolution schemes on the flow resolution under the same discrete velocity ordinate method are studied. A conservative discrete velocity ordinate method to ensure the kinetic compatibility condition is also implemented. The present algorithms are tested for the one-dimensional unsteady shock-tube problems with various Knudsen numbers, the steady normal shock wave structures for different Mach numbers, the two-dimensional flows past a circular cylinder and a NACA 0012 airfoil to verify the present methodology and to simulate gas transport phenomena covering various flow regimes. Illustrations of large scale parallel computations of three-dimensional hypersonic rarefied flows over the reusable sphere–cone satellite and the re-entry spacecraft using almost the largest computer systems available in China are also reported. The present computed results are compared with the theoretical prediction from gas dynamics, related DSMC results, slip N–S solutions and experimental data, and good agreement can be found. The numerical experience indicates that although the direct model Boltzmann equation solver in phase space can be computationally expensive, nevertheless, the present GKUAs for kinetic model Boltzmann equations in conjunction with current available high-performance parallel computer power can provide a vital engineering tool for analyzing rarefied gas flows covering the whole range of flow regimes in aerospace engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A kinetic model of the Boltzmann equation for non-vibrating polyatomic gases is proposed, based on the Rykov model for diatomic gases. We adopt two velocity distribution functions (VDFs) to describe the system state; inelastic collisions are the same as in the Rykov model, but elastic collisions are modelled by the Boltzmann collision operator (BCO) for monatomic gases, so that the overall kinetic model equation reduces to the Boltzmann equation for monatomic gases in the limit of no translational--rotational energy exchange. The free parameters in the model are determined by comparing the transport coefficients, obtained by a Chapman--Enskog expansion, to values from experiment and kinetic theory. The kinetic model equations are solved numerically using the fast spectral method for elastic collision operators and the discrete velocity method for inelastic ones. The numerical results for normal shock waves and planar Fourier/Couette flows are in good agreement with both conventional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) results and experimental data. Poiseuille and thermal creep flows of polyatomic gases between two parallel plates are also investigated. Finally, we find that the spectra of both spontaneous and coherent Rayleigh--Brillouin scattering (RBS) compare well with DSMC results, and the computational speed of our model is approximately 300 times faster. Compared to the Rykov model, our model greatly improves prediction accuracy, and reveals the significant influence of molecular models. For coherent RBS, we find that the Rykov model could overpredict the bulk viscosity by a factor of two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rigorous asymptotic analysis of the Boltzmann equation for small Knudsen numbers leads, in the general case, to more complicated sets of differential equations than widely used to describe the behavior of gas in terms of classical fluid dynamics. The present paper deals with such one that is valid for significant temperature variations and finite Reynolds numbers at the same time (slow nonisothermal flow equations). A finite-volume solver developed on the open-source CFD platform OpenFOAM $${^ \circledR}$$ is proposed for computer simulation of a slightly rarefied gas in an arbitrary geometry. Typical temperature-driven flows are considered as numerical examples. A force acting on uniformly heated bodies is studied as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computations of rarefied gas dynamical flows governed by the semiclassical Boltzmann ellipsoidal-statistical (ES) kinetic model equation using an accurate numerical method are presented. The semiclassical ES model was derived through the maximum entropy principle and conserves not only the mass, momentum and energy, but also contains additional higher order moments that differ from the standard quantum distributions. A different decoding procedure to obtain the necessary parameters for determining the ES distribution is also devised. The numerical method in phase space combines the discrete-ordinate method in momentum space and the high-resolution shock capturing method in physical space. Numerical solutions of two-dimensional Riemann problems for two configurations covering various degrees of rarefaction are presented and various contours of the quantities unique to this new model are illustrated. When the relaxation time becomes very small, the main flow features a display similar to that of ideal quantum gas dynamics, and the present solutions are found to be consistent with existing calculations for classical gas. The effect of a parameter that permits an adjustable Prandtl number in the flow is also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]