Thermal conductivity of mixtures of polyatomic gases at low and moderate density

Abstract

The paper discusses the prediction of the thermal conductivity of gas mixtures containing polyatomic components at low and moderate density. The prediction scheme adopted is based upon the rigorous kinetic theory of gases and makes use of other thermophysical properties of the pure gases and binary mixtures in the evaluation of the thermal conductivity. Comparisons with accurate experimental data indicate that only for systems in which the mass ratio of the species is near unity and for which inelastic collisions are rare, is a reliable prediction of the mixture thermal conductivity at low density possible. On the other hand, the density dependence of the thermal conductivity is quite accurately represented for most systems.