Europhys. Lett., 73 (6), pp. 846-850 (2006)
DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2005-10473-7

A generalized heat conduction model in rarefied gas

L. S. Pan, D. Xu, J. Lou and Q. Yao

Institute of High Performance Computing - 1 Science Park Road #01-01 The Capricorn, Singapore Science Park II, Singapore 117528

received 15 December 2005; accepted 17 January 2006
published online 8 February 2006

Abstract
After showing the failure of the traditional heat conduction law in describing correctly the heat flux phenomenon in a rarefied gas at the slip regime, a generalized heat conduction model is presented. The model predicts a heat conduction boundary layer near the wall with a thickness proportional to the Knudsen number. It reduces to the Fourier law when the Knudsen number is sufficiently small. An analytic solution from the present model shows satisfactory agreement with that from gas molecular-dynamics simulation.

PACS
44.10.+i - Heat conduction.
51.20.+d - Viscosity, diffusion, and thermal conductivity.

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