Onsager's reciprocal relations in the linear problem of flow of rarefied gas past a heat conducting body (Q2265902)

Symmetry of integral transport coefficients is established on the basis of a linear stationary Boltzmann equation for the problem of flow past a heat conducting body. An expression is obtained for the entropy production in the gas-body system, and this determines the thermodynamic fluxes and forces. In the present paper, a general method is proposed for establishing the Onsager relations that does not require the actual construction of a solution to the problem and is applicable for bodies of arbitrary shapes and all values of the Knudsen number.