Rarefied gas shear flow between two movable segments of parallel plates

Abstract

A study is made of the two-dimensional steady-state rarefied gas flow observed between two parallel plane surfaces of finite and different length when one of the surfaces is fixed and the other moves parallel to itself at a constant velocity, while remaining within the bounds of a given segment with fixed ends (the motion is similar to that of a conveyer belt). This flow can be regarded as a twodimensional counterpart of the classical one-dimensional Couette flow. The corresponding problem is formulated in a rectangular domain for the nonlinear kinetic equation with a model collision operator and is solved by a finite-difference method for various boundary conditions. For simplicity's sake, the flow was studied under conditions such that it can be considered near-isothermal. The gas pressures on each side of the gap formed by the plates may be the same or different. If the pressures on both sides of the gap are equal, then a near-zero-gradient flow develops between the plates. In this case, the greater the plate length, the nearer the flow in the middle of the gap to one-dimensional Couette flow. The end effects are examined, together with the conditions in which the flow in the middle of the domain can be assumed to be practically one-dimensional. In the zero-gradient regime, the system operates, in general, as a pump transferring gas from one side of the gap the other. The ability to pump gas also remains if a small counterpressure exists.