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The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method has been used for over 50 years to simulate rarified gas flows for a wide range of applications where continuum assumptions fail. Extensive efforts to validate and verify the DSMC method are essential to establishing confidence in the technique and to promoting its broader application. Here, validation results for two cases are presented using a recently developed, open-source DSMC code called SPARTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) is investigated using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method of molecular gas dynamics. Here, two-dimensional and three-dimensional DSMC RTI simulations are performed to quantify the growth of flat and single-mode-perturbed interfaces between two atmospheric-pressure monatomic gases. The DSMC simulations reproduce all qualitative features of the RTI and are in reasonable quantitative agreement with existing theoretical and empirical models in the linear, nonlinear, and self-similar regimes. At late times, the instability is seen to exhibit a self-similar behavior, in agreement with experimental observations. For the conditions simulated, diffusion can influence the initial instability growth significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]