Numerical solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation for an arbitrary intermolecular potential

A numerical procedure to solve the linearized Boltzmann equation with an arbitrary intermolecular potential by the discrete velocity method is elaborated. The equation is written in terms of the kernel, which contains the differential cross section and represents a singularity. As an example, the Lennard-Jones potential is used and the corresponding differential cross section is calculated and tabulated. Then, the kernel is calculated so that to overcome its singularity. Once, the kernel is known and stored it can be used for many kinds of gas flows. In order to test the method, the transport coefficients, i.e. thermal conductivity and viscosity for all noble gases, are calculated and compared with those obtained by the variational method using the Sonine polynomials expansion. The fine agreement between the results obtained by the two different methods shows the feasibility of application of the proposed technique to calculate rarefied gas flows over the whole range of the Knudsen number. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.