Fluid modeling for the Knudsen compressor: case of polyatomic gases (Q989410)

The Knudsen pump consisting of alternately arranged wider and narrower channels between two parallel plates is considered. Its properties are investigated when the working gas is a polyatomic gas, using a polyatomic version of the ellipsoidal statistical model of the Boltzmann equation. First is derived, under the assumption that the width of each channel is sufficiently small compared with its length, the macroscopic system composed of a differential equation of convection-diffusion type and its connection condition at the junctions of the wider and narrower channels. The resulting macroscopic system is of the same form as that derived from the known BGK model for a monatomic gas, and the effect of the polyatomic gas is confined only in the transport coefficients in the equation. Also showed that the transport coefficients can be obtained readily from those corresponding to the BGK model for a monatomic gas by a simple convection. Finally, the macroscopic system is applied to investigate numerically the properties of the Knudsen pump for a diatomic \(N_2\) gas. As the result, the authors confirmed that the polyatomic gas effect on the performance of the Knudsen pump is quite limited, so that the existing macroscopic system derived for a monatomic gas can be applied safely also to a polyatomic gas in the level of practical applications.