Extended thermodynamics of fluids versus the revised Enskog equation

Abstract

The joint labours of specialists in mechanics and thermodynamics have suggested certain purely phenomenological hypotheses regarding the structure of the extended thermodynamics (ET) of gases and fluids: the microscopic counterparts to these propositions are, however, known for very few kinds of kinetic models of continuum systems (Boltzmann's equation). While Boltzmann's H-theorem lies at the very basis of the kinetic origin of the ET of dilute gases - in particular, in justifying the local constitutive assumption (LCA) underlying the Liu-Müller theory - no such interrelation between macroscopic and microscopic approaches has been proved as yet for the revised Enskog equation (REE) with the appropriate H-theorem. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to construct the ET of dense gases and fluids within the framework of the REE and to investigate the nature of the resulting discrepancies with the existing phenomenological theories.