Nonlinear effects in gases in the Couette problem

Abstract

The nonlinear processes of heat and mass transfer in a rarefied gas confined between two infinite parallel plates maintained at different temperatures and moving at a relative velocity are considered. The profiles of the gas macroscopic flow velocity, density, temperature, heat fluxes, and shear stress were calculated on the basis of kinetic equations by the discrete velocity method in a wide range of Knudsen numbers at different values of temperature difference between the plates and plate velocities. It was shown that under certain conditions, the direction of gas flow near the “hot” plate can change to the opposite. It was discovered that the longitudinal and normal components of heat flux at a certain temperature difference between the plates change their orientation to the opposite in transition and nearly free molecular regimes.