Statistical simulation of low-speed rarefied gas flows (Q5937910)

Conclusions: An information preservation technique is proposed to overcome serious statistical fluctuations inherent in direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method for low-speed rarefied gas flows. This technique is applied to benchmark problems, namely Couette, Poiseuille, and Rayleigh flows over the entire Knudsen regime. The characteristic velocities in these flows ranged from 0.01 to 1\,m/s, which were much smaller than the thermal velocity of about 340\,m/s. Meaningful results are obtained at a sample size of \(10^3-10^4\), in comparison with a sample size of \(10^8\) or more required for DSMC method at such a range of flow velocity. This results in a tremendous gain in CPU time. A comparison of velocity distributions, surface shear stresses, and mass fluxes given by the information preservation technique with exact solutions in continuum and free molecular limits, and with numerical solutions of linearized Boltzmann equation, experimental data and DSMC results in the transition regime, shows a good agreement.