A cut cell method for the 3D simulation of Crookes radiometer

Abstract

Devices involved in engineering applications, such as vacuum pumps or MEMS, may be made of several moving parts. This raise the issue of the simulation of rarefied gas flow around moving boundaries. We propose a simple process, known as cut cell method, to treat the motion of a solid body in the framework of the deterministic solving of a kinetic equation. Up to our knowledge, this is the first time that this approach has been used for this kind of simulations. The method is illustrated by the 2D and 3D simulations of a Crookes radiometer.