Numerical modeling of rarefied gas flow through a slit into vacuum based on the kinetic equation

A rarefied gas flow through a thin slit into vacuum is calculated on the basis of the kinetic model equations applying the discrete velocity method. The calculations are carried out for the whole range of the gas rarefaction from the free-molecular regime to the hydrodynamic one. Numerical data on the flow rate and distributions of density, bulk velocity and temperature along the symmetry axis are reported. A comparison with the corresponding results obtained previously by the direct simulation Monte Carlo method is performed. A good agreement between these results shows a reliability of the model equations which require less computational effort than the Monte Carlo method. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.