Gaseous mixture flow between two parallel plates in the whole range of the gas rarefaction

The flow of binary gaseous mixtures between two parallel plates driven by gradients of pressure, temperature and concentration is studied, based on the McCormack model of the Boltzmann equation. The coupled kinetic equations are solved numerically by the discrete velocity method. The mass flow, the heat flux and the diffusion flux, which are the mixture quantities of practical importance, are expressed in terms of the so-called thermodynamic fluxes. The latter are written in a form that allows us to verify the Onsager-Casimir reciprocity relations. In addition, analytical expressions for these quantities are derived in the limit case of the hydrodynamic regime. Thus, the numerical solution together with these expressions provides the solution in the whole range of the gas rarefaction. The influence of the intermolecular interaction potential is also investigated by comparing the results for the rigid sphere model with those for a realistic potential. Numerical results are presented for two binary mixtures of noble gases (Ne-Ar and He-Xe) for various values of the molar concentrations. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved