DSMC simulation of binary rarefied gas flows between parallel plates and comparison to other methods

The direct simulation Monte-Carlo (DSMC) method has been developed to solve the Boltzmann equation for binary gas mixtures with hard-sphere molecules. The method is applied for pressure and concentration driven flows between two parallel plates. The flow in both cases is maintained by external force, of which expression is derived from the linearized description of the flow. Simulations have been performed in the low Mach number limit in order to test the method against the accurate solution of the linearzied Boltzmann equation (LBE) with hard-sphere molecules. Very good agreement is obtained between the two situations. The results provided by the present method have also been compared to the corresponding ones of the McCormack kinetic model. It is shown that the agreement between the results obtained from the DSMC method with hard-sphere molecules and the McCormack kinetic model is satisfactory. Hence, it is concluded that the McCormack kinetic model provides reliable results for isothermal flows in comparison to the linearized Boltzmann equation for hard-sphere gases. © 2011 American Institute of Physics