Onsager symmetries in field-dependent flows of rarefied molecular gases (Q1080323)

Investigations of field effects upon transport phenomena in molecular gases have recently been extended from the hydrodynamic to transition and Knudsen regimes. In the steady state of a binary mixture between parallel plates the average flow velocity, diffusive flux and heat flux linearly depend upon small gradients of pressure, concentration and temperature. The relation is specified by a matrix of field- and pressure-dependent coefficients \({\mathbb{L}}^{\alpha \beta}\), each of which may be a tensor. The Onsager reciprocity, \({\mathbb{L}}^{\alpha \beta}({\mathbb{B}})={\mathbb{L}}^{\beta \alpha \dag}(-{\mathbb{B}})\), is verified by a derivation from the linearized Boltzmann equation, by taking account of the symmetries of intermolecular and gas-surface collision operators. A more detailed analysis is possible at moderate rarefraction, when the fluxes can be split into bulk and boundary-layer parts, the latter involving field-dependent slip coefficients.