Viscosity and Other Physical Properties of Gases and Gas Mixtures

Abstract

Abstract This paper is of special importance to the engineer because it is perhaps the first attempt to present directly a comprehensive review of the theoretical tools available for the calculation of the thermodynamic properties of gases and gas mixtures at finite, if only moderate pressures. The paper reviews a mass of information collected during the past two decades and shows the extent to which it can be correlated and systematized by means of molecular theory. The paper goes further to outline a new and apparently very successful method of formulating and predicting the viscosity and other transport properties of gases and gas mixtures at sufficiently low pressures. The method is the first significant practical improvement over the relatively crude one developed by Sutherland, and it is almost certain that engineers will find it extremely useful once they come to understand it. The extensive tables which are vital to the paper not only illustrate the method but implement it as well so that the user is enabled to calculate the viscosity and other transport properties of a large class of technically important gases and gas mixtures with very little labor.