On the use of the modified Nanbu direct simulation scheme (Q1112686)

The application of direct simulation Monte Carlo methods to complex rarefied gas problems is well established. Several such methods now exist and these may be put into one of two categories, i.e., those which model the Boltzmann equation and those which model the Kac master equation. Previously, the latter methods have been in the ascendancy mainly due to their numerical efficiency. However, recent advances in using the Boltzmann equation as the kinetic model mean that the application of this solution technique warrants investigation. Our calculations show that the new DSMC method derived from the Boltzmann equation can achieve a processing time comparable with the more popular Monte Carlo schemes based on the Kac formulation.