Rarefied gas flow past a flat plate at zero

angle of attack
Cite as: Phys. Fluids 32, 087108 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0014629
Submitted: 20 May 2020 . Accepted: 24 July 2020 . Published Online: 11 August 2020

A. A. Abramov , A. V. Butkovskii , and O. G. Buzykin

Phys. Fluids 32, 087108 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0014629 32, 087108

© 2020 Author(s).
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

Rarefied gas flow past a flat plate at zero angle

of attack
Cite as: Phys. Fluids 32, 087108 (2020); doi: 10.1063/5.0014629
Submitted: 20 May 2020 • Accepted: 24 July 2020 •
Published Online: 11 August 2020

A. A. Abramov,a) A. V. Butkovskii,b) and O. G. Buzykinc)

AFFILIATIONS
Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), 1, Zhukovsky Str., 140180 Zhukovsky, Russia

a)
Email: alabr54@mail.ru
b)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: albutkov@mail.ru
c)
Email: oleg.buzykin@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
We consider subsonic, transonic, and moderate supersonic rarefied monatomic gas flows past a flat plate at zero angle of attack in the tran-
sitional regime. The influence of the rarefaction on the flow pattern is investigated mainly by the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. We
study the shear stress, normal momentum flux transferred to the plate, and energy flux transferred to the plate at various Knudsen numbers,
Mach numbers, and plate temperatures. We show that if the plate temperature is equal to the temperature of the undisturbed gas, then at
any Mach number of the incoming flow, the average dimensionless normal momentum transferred to the plate has at least one extreme with
respect to the Knudsen number. Specifically, in the supersonic and sonic cases, these dependences have a maximum. In the case of subsonic
transonic Mach number M = 0.8, the dependence has a weak maximum and a weak minimum. At M = 0.5, it has weak minimum. We show
that in a wide temperature range at subsonic and moderate supersonic Mach numbers in the transitional regime, the plate temperature very
weakly affects the average friction force acting on the plate. We show that there exist certain intervals of plate temperatures ratios and Mach
numbers such that the average dimensionless energy flux transferred to the plate changes the sign if the Knudsen number increases, previously
reaching a local negative minimum.
Published under license by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0014629., s

I. INTRODUCTION
The rarefied gas flow past a flat plate at zero incidence is one of
the classical problems of molecular gas dynamics. The initial interest
in this problem was caused by the need to understand the processes
that occur when the rarefied hypersonic gas flows around spacecraft
in the upper atmosphere at hypersonic velocity. This problem has
been studied by many authors.1–11 The theoretical studies were car-
ried out mainly using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC)
method. In these studies, distributions of hypersonic flow param-
eters were obtained at the plate and around it. There are some
results for supersonic rarefied monatomic gas flows past a flat plate
at zero incidence.5,6,12,13 To the best of our knowledge, the transonic
flow past a plate in the transitional regime has not been considered
earlier.
Recently, studies of subsonic flows of rarefied gas have begun
to appear.14–19 This is due to the growing interest in micro-
electromechanical systems (MEMS). Subsonic gas flows in these
systems are rarefied gas flows even under atmospheric conditions.
However, the application of DSMC to the calculation of steady sub-
sonic and transonic flows encounters significant difficulties associ-
ated with the formulation of the correct downstream and upstream
boundary conditions.
In this paper, unlike Refs. 14–19, we consider the unsteady-state
subsonic, transonic, and supersonic gas flows and obtain the steady-
state as the limiting case. This allows us to avoid the difficulties with
setting approximate boundary conditions for the stationary subsonic
and transonic problems.
The above papers are mainly devoted to the development of
boundary conditions for the subsonic rarefied gas flow. The system-
atic investigation of the influence of the subsonic flow parameters
on the momentum and energy fluxes transferred to the plate was not
carried out. Such studies were performed early only for hypersonic
flow around the plate. The purpose of our paper is to investigate the
effect of gas rarefaction on the flow around a plate at zero angle of
attack at subsonic, transonic, and moderate supersonic free-stream

Phys. Fluids 32, 087108 (2020); doi: 10.1063/5.0014629 32, 087108-1

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√
velocities. Specifically, we study the effect of rarefaction on the where c∞ = 2RT∞ , R is the gas constant, κ is the heat capacity
normal and horizontal momentum fluxes transferred to the plate ratio, and λ∞ is the mean free path of the molecules in the undis-
and on the energy flux at various Mach numbers and plate tempera- turbed gas. In this paper,
√ we investigate the flow of a hard-sphere
tures. gas. Hence, λ∞ = ( 2σT n∞ )−1 , where σ T is the total cross section
This paper is organized as follows: We formulate the problem of the molecules.
in Sec. II. We state the equation for the molecular velocity distribu- We study the energy flux transferred to the plate Ey and the
tion function and the initial and boundary conditions. In Sec. III, we horizontal and the normal momentum fluxes pxy and pyy ,
review some details of the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC)
method used in this study as a solution procedure. In Sec. IV, we m(v2x + v2y + v2z )
Ey = − ∫ vy f (V)∣y=0 dV, where dV = dvx dvy dvz ,
analyze the obtained results. The results of the study are summarized 2
in Sec. V. pxy = − ∫ mvx vy f (V)∣y=0 dV, pyy = − ∫ mvy vy f (V)∣y=0 dV.
II. PROBLEM STATEMENT To solve (1)–(5), we use the DSMC method.20
As described above, in order to find the fluid dynamic variables
of the steady flow past a plate, we solve the non-stationary problem. III. SOLUTION PROCEDURE
Consider a semi-infinite space y > 0 that is filled with an undisturbed We investigate unsteady-state flow around a plate. We are
gas of density ρ∞ , temperature T ∞ , and pressure p∞ . Assume that interested in the steady flow only near the plate. This allows us to
at time τ = 0, the gas starts moving from left to right at velocity U∞ , reduce significantly the size of the computational domain for the
and the flat plate 0 < x < L acquires a surface temperature T s . We DSMC simulations as well as the calculation time. To simulate the
suppose that U∞ is directed along the x-axis. The x- and y-axes form physical space, we use the rectangular domain (see Fig. 1).
a Cartesian coordinate system. The dimensions of the computational domain are chosen
To investigate the unsteady-state flow that arises in the prob- so that the disturbances from its boundaries do not reach the
lem, one should solve the Boltzmann equation for the molecule plate by time t m at which the parameters of the flow near
distribution function, the plate become almost steady and the calculations are com-
∂f ∂f ∂f pleted. In our calculations, the value of t m is typically between 7
+ vx + vy = J(f, f ), (1)
∂τ ∂x ∂y and 50.
with the initial condition For subsonic and transonic flows, the first approximation for
1/2
⎡ ⎤ the distance from the upper boundary is H = max(tm Tw /2, tm /2).
⎢ (vx − U∞ )2 + v2y + v2z ⎥
f = n∞ (2πRT∞ )−3/2 exp⎢ ⎢−
⎥, y > 0, τ = 0,
⎥ 1/2
For supersonic flows, we set H < max(tm Tw /2, tm /2). For the sub-
⎢ 2RT∞ ⎥
⎣ ⎦ sonic regime, the first approximation for the distance from the lat-
(2)
and with the boundary conditions for τ > 0, eral boundary is S = (1 − M2 )H. This value is obtained by estimating
the time required for the perturbation from a lateral boundary of the
⎡ v2x + v2y + v2z ⎤
⎢ ⎥ computational region to reach the plate. Then, we increase the size
f = nr (2πRTs )−3/2 exp⎢− ⎥, vy > 0, 0 < x < L, y = 0,
⎢ 2RT ⎥ of the computational domain and check whether the increase affects
⎣ s ⎦
(3) the momentum and energy fluxes transferred to the plate. If these
fluxes remain the same, we do not increase the size of the domain
f (τ, x, y, vx , vy , vz ) = f (τ, x, y, vx , −vy , vz ) at x < 0,
(4) anymore; otherwise, we increase again the size of the domain and
y = 0, and at x > L, y = 0, repeat this step.
At M = 1, the value of S varies in our calculations from 1.5 for
⎡ ⎤
⎢ (vx − U∞ )2 + v2y + v2z ⎥ Kn = 0.05 and T w = 0.25 to 50 for Kn = 10 and T w = 4. At M = 1.5,
f → n∞ (2πRT∞ )−3/2 exp⎢
⎢− ⎥
⎥ the value of S varies from 0.2 for Kn = 0.05 and T w = 0.25 to 13 for
⎢ 2RT∞ ⎥. (5)
⎣ ⎦ Kn = 10 and T w = 4. The domain volume is divided into cells with
2 2
x +y →∞
The reflection of the molecules from the plate is assumed to
occur diffusely with a temperature equal to the surface temperature.
Here, J(f, f ) is the molecule collision integral;2 vx , vy , and vz
are the Cartesian components of the molecules’ velocities; and n∞ is
the numerical density of the undisturbed gas: n∞ = ρ∞ /m, where
m is the mass of the molecule. The parameter nr of the reflected
molecules distribution function is determined based on the condi-
tion of balance between the incident molecules and the reflected
ones. The dimensionless solution to this problem depends on the
dimensionless variables
X = x/L, Y = y/L, Tw = Ts /T∞ , t = τ ⋅ c∞ /L, FIG. 1. The scheme of the flow geometry and computational domain: AB = CD
√ = S(t m ), AF = DE = H(t m ), BC = 1, and ΔX = ΔY.
M = U∞ / κRT∞ , Kn = λ∞ /L,

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sizes ΔX = ΔY. The cell size is chosen small enough to guarantee
that the ratio of the mean free path of the molecules to the cell size
is about 3 or more everywhere in the flow. We check that a further
decrease in the cell size does not affect the values of the momentum
and energy fluxes transferred to the plate. The cell size usually varies
in the range from approximately KnT w /(3M) at M > 1, T w < 1 to
approximately Kn/3 at M ≤ 1, T w > 1.
As seen from above, the dimensions of the computational
domain substantially depend on the flow parameters. For example,
at Kn = 0.1, M = 0.5, and T w = 4, the dimensions of the domain are
630 × 330, and at Kn = 5, M = 1, and T w = 0.25, the dimensions
are 42 × 20.
The flow parameters within one cell are assumed to be
constant. At the initial moment of time, t = 0, the sim-
ulated molecules are located in space according to the dis-
tribution function (2). The number of molecules in the cell
is 100.
The simulation process is divided into two stages:

FIG. 2. The average normal momentum flux P transferred to the plate, shear stress F, and energy flux Q transferred to the plate in terms of time t at T w = 1 and various Kn:
[(a)–(c)] the subsonic flow, [(d)–(f)] the transonic flow, and [(g)–(i)] the supersonic flow.

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(1) All molecules move at a distance determined by their veloci- TABLE II. The average shear stress F and average energy flux Q transferred to the
ties and time Δt. If a molecule reaches the domain boundaries, plate: DSMC vs model equation at M = 1.5 and T w = 1.
then its velocity evolves according to (3)–(5).
(2) The collisions between the molecules in a given cell are mod- F Q
eled. At this stage, we utilize the algorithm proposed by Bird
Kn DSMC Model eq.6 Kn DSMC Model eq.6
(a detailed description can be found in Ref. 20). The time Δt
is usually varied in the range from approximately KnT w /(3M) 0.0394 0.169 0.173 0.0260 0.0977 0.117
in the case M > 1, T w < 1 to approximately Kn/3 in the 0.0787 0.219 0.224 0.0520 0.131 0.156
case M ≤ 1, T w ≥ 1. 0.157 0.273 0.277 0.104 0.169 0.195
0.394 0.333 0.335 0.260 0.213 0.236
The fluid dynamic variables in the cells are calculated from the 0.787 0.361 0.363 0.520 0.238 0.253
molecules’ velocities, which are known. The momentum and energy 3.94 0.382 0.386 2.60 0.257 0.265
fluxes at the wall are computed during the time period Δt from the
known velocities of the incident and reflected molecules. By incre-
menting time, we simulate the time evolution of our dynamical sys- IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
tem. The number of time steps at different Kn, M, and T w usually
ranges from 100 to 4000. By repeating this procedure, we man- A. Verification of the method
age to diminish the statistical uncertainty of the obtained results. We compare the friction forces acting on the plate and the
The number of repetitions at different parameter values ranged energy fluxes transferred to the plate obtained in this paper by the
from 500 to 16 000. The accuracy is determined by the value of DSMC method with the results of the corresponding calculations
the statistical fluctuations and is usually varied from about 0.25% based on the model equation6 in Table II.
to 2%. As can be seen from Table II, the results obtained by solving the
The calculations were carried out on PC Intel Core i7, 3.5 GHz. model equation and by the direct statistical modeling at M = 1.5 are
The typical calculation time depends on the Knudsen number and close. The difference in F varies from 1% at Kn = 3.94 to 2.4% at Kn
varies from an hour to 2 weeks. = 0.0394. The difference in Q varies from 3.1% at Kn = 2.6 to 19.8%
The average dimensionless momentum and energy fluxes at Kn = 0.026.
transferred to the plate in terms of time for unsteady-state flow are The momentum and energy fluxes transferred to the plate over
shown in Fig. 2. We use there the following notation: distance from the leading edge are shown at different Mach num-
bers and Knudsen numbers in Fig. 3 at T w = 1. As can be seen from
pyy pxy Ey Fig. 3, for small Knudsen numbers, these dependences (apart from
Pyy = − , Pxy = , E= ,
2
ρ∞ c∞ 2
ρ∞ c∞ 3
ρ∞ c∞ the areas near the leading and trailing edges) are close to the depen-
L L L dences obtained by solving the Navier–Stokes equations with slip
P = ∫ Pyy dx/L, F = ∫ Pxy dx/L, Q = ∫ Edx/L. conditions at the plate,2
0 0 0
√
μ(x, y) ∂u(x, y) 2
u(x, y) = 1.012 at y = 0, (6)
ρ(x, y) ∂y RTs
The curves illustrate how the unsteady-state flow evolves into the
steady one. In order to evaluate the correctness of the choice of t √
at which the unsteady-state flow can be considered sufficiently close 1.173 π ∂T(x, y)
T(x, y) = Ts (x) + √ k(x, y) at y = 0, (7)
to the steady one, we have made a special DSMC code for steady 2Rρ(x, y) ⋅ 2RTs ∂y
supersonic flow past a plate. In Table I, we compare the momen-
tum and energy fluxes obtained by solving non-stationary and sta- where u(x, y), ρ(x, y), and T(x, y) are the gas velocity, den-
tionary problems. The resulting values are identical to each other sity, and temperature, respectively; μ(x, y) and k(x, y) are the
within 3%. dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity, respectively. Dynamic

TABLE I. Comparison of the average momentum and energy fluxes P, F, and Q obtained by solving non-stationary and
stationary problems at M = 1.5, T w = 4, and various Kn.

Unsteady-state flow Steady flow Unsteady/Steady

Kn t P F Q P F Q P F Q

0.05 7.62 0.895 0.194 −0.398 0.900 0.188 −0.393 0.994 1.032 1.013
0.1 14.6 0.949 0.240 −0.499 0.944 0.233 −0.492 1.005 1.030 1.014
0.25 19.5 0.982 0.303 −0.615 0.985 0.297 −0.615 0.997 1.020 1.00
1 39.4 0.887 0.365 −0.648 0.896 0.364 −0.653 0.996 1.001 0.998
5 48.4 0.782 0.383 −0.600 0.790 0.383 −0.606 0.990 1.000 0.990

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FIG. 3. The momentum Pxy , Pyy and energy E fluxes transferred to the plate in terms of the distance X from the leading edge at T w = 1 and different M and Kn: [(a)–(c)] the
subsonic flow, [(d)–(f)] the transonic flow, and [(g)–(i)] the supersonic flow.

viscosity depends on the gas temperature. In our case, where perpendicularly to it. Almost squared control volumes have size
molecules are hard spheres, the dynamic viscosity and thermal varying from 5 ⋅ 10−6 at the leading and trailing edges to 0.25 at outer
conductivity are21 boundaries. There are 2290 points at the wall, the total number being
√ about 400 000. The slip boundary conditions are modeled by the
5 π m√ 5 Rμ
μ = 1.016 RT, k = . use of the momentum or enthalpy boundary fluxes, which depend
16 σT 2 Pr consequently on the gas velocity or the gas temperature. The consis-
Here the Prandtl number Pr = 0.661. tency of the boundary values and their normal derivatives is achieved
The free molecular values in Fig. 3 and below in Figs. 5 and iteratively.
6 are obtained using the standard formulas (see Ref. 20). The Note that the slip solution does not coincide with the DSMC
Navier–Stokes equations were solved numerically using the same near the edges. This happens since the Navier–Stokes equations are
non-uniform irregular mesh for all the cases presented. The dimen- not valid if the distance from the edges is shorter than several free
sions of the rectangular domain are 50 along the plate and 25 path lengths.2

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The results of the experimental studies of the force acting on
a plate located at a zero angle of attack in the subsonic rarefied
gas flow are given in Ref. 22. The experiments were carried out in
a wide range of the Mach and Knudsen numbers of the incoming
flow. Experimental skin-friction coefficients are, in general, good
to within ±5%.22 In Table III, we compare the values of the shear
stress obtained by the DSMC method with the results of experimen-
tal studies22 for the plate with the aspect ratio AR = 5. Note that
the authors of Ref. 22 do not give the values of the ratios of gas and
plate temperatures. However, as will be shown below, at subsonic
and moderate supersonic Mach numbers, the friction force weakly
depends on T w . Table III also shows the values of the ratio of the
shear stress obtained by the DSMC method to the corresponding
experimental values F rel . The corresponding average values F̄rel and
the standard deviation σ are provided there as well.
Note that in Ref. 22, the experiments were carried out for air
with the heat capacity ratio κ = 1.4, rather than with κ = 5/3, which
corresponds to a hard sphere gas. However, if at T w = 1, the Knudsen
number and Mach number tend to zero, the flow tends to the flow
of a viscous incompressible fluid. For this type of flow, the momen-
tum transfer problem can be solved without solving the heat transfer
problem,23 and the value of the heat capacity ratio does not affect the
friction force. In order to verify that the difference in the heat capac-
ity coefficients does not significantly affect the average shear stress at
the small values of the Knudsen numbers and subsonic Mach num-
bers considered in Ref. 22, we performed additional calculations.
Specifically, we have computed the diatomic gas flow past the plate
using the Navier–Stokes equations with Pr = 0.71 and correspond-
ing slip conditions at the plate.25 Differences in F for diatomic and
monatomic gas are 11%. Note that the Navier–Stokes equations with
the slip boundary conditions allow us to calculate the momentum
and energy fluxes with a relative accuracy of the order of Kn.24
Thus, as can be seen from Table III, the method proposed above
for calculating the subsonic rarefied gas flow around a plate allows us
to obtain a good agreement between the calculated and experimental
data in transitional regime.
B. The effect of gas rarefaction on the normal
momentum flux
In Ref. 2, it was shown that, at hypersonic velocities, the depen-
dence of the average dimensionless normal momentum flux trans-
ferred to the plate on the Knudsen number has a maximum. We
claim now that for T w = 1, at any Mach number, this dependence has
at least one extremum. Indeed, at any Mach number and sufficiently
small Knudsen numbers, the flow is close to the Navier–Stokes one
with the Reynolds number,
√
M κ
Re = 1.257 , (8)
Kn
much greater than unity. Therefore, the flow is described by bound-
ary layer theory.23 Hence, we have
P(Kn,M, Tw ) → PNS = 0.5 at Kn → 0.
On the other hand,20 we have
√
P(Kn,M, Tw ) → PFM = 0.25 (1 + Tw ) at Kn → ∞.
At T w = 1, these limits coincide. Consequently, at any Mach number,
the dependence P(Kn) has at least one extremum.
The dependences P(Kn) obtained by the DSMC method at T w
= 1 for 0.05 ≤ Kn ≤ 10 and by solving Navier–Stokes equations
with boundary slip conditions (6) and (7) for 0.0016 ≤ Kn ≤ 0.1
are depicted in Fig. 4 at different Mach numbers. Note that when
comparing the DSMC and Navier–Stokes results at the same Knud-
sen number, one should take into account that Kn characterizes the
degree of rarefaction of gas near the plate if Kn is of the order of unity
or greater. If Kn is much less than 1, then the rarefaction of gas is bet-
ter characterized by Knδ . This parameter is based on the boundary
layer thickness at the trailing edge as the characteristic length,
√
Knδ = KnM, M > Kn.
Thus, with a decrease in the Mach number for fixed Kn, the
gas rarefaction Knδ decreases. This is confirmed by a comparison of
the calculations presented in Fig. 4. Specifically, the lower the Mach
number is, the closer the DSMC and Navier–Stokes results are to
each other.
For example, we have
P(Kn = 0.1, M = 1.5, Tw = 1)
−1
P(0.1, 0.5, 1)
( )( ) = 0.937.
PNS (0.1,1.5, 1) PNS (0.1, 0.5, 1)
For T w = 1, as can be seen from Fig. 4(a), at M = 1.5, the
dependence P(Kn) has maximum. The existence of a maximum of
this dependence for a supersonic flow around a plate has the fol-
lowing physical explanation. At Kn ≪ 1, a gas flow can be con-
sidered as a continuous flow. In this case, a shock wave occurs in
front of the plate as a result of the interaction between the bound-
ary layer and the outer stream. As the rarefaction (Kn) increases,

TABLE III. The average shear stress F at the plate: DSMC vs experiment.22

F
22
Expt. DSMC hard NS NS
M Kn κ = 7/5 sph. κ = 5/3 κ = 7/5 F rel F̄rel σ

0.71 0.0409 0.0656 0.0675 0.0751 0.0671 1.03

0.188 0.0412 0.0109 0.0126 0.0127 0.0113 1.14
0.167 0.0788 0.0158 0.0157 0.0151 0.0135 0.991 1.01 0.079
0.622 0.139 0.0936 0.0916 0.978
0.521 0.244 0.0978 0.0881 0.900

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FIG. 4. The average normal momentum

flux P transferred to the plate in terms
of Kn at different Mach numbers. (a) M
= 0.5, 1, 1.5. The dependences P(Kn)
have one extremum. (b) M = 0.8. The
dependence P(Kn) has two extrema.

the Reynolds number decreases, and the thickness of the bound- molecular, the normal momentum flux transferred to the plate
ary layer increases. An increase in the displacement thickness leads, increases with decreasing rarefaction (Knudsen number). This
in turn, to an increase in pressure behind the shock wave. On the is caused by an increase in the number of collisions of the
other hand, at Kn ≫ 1, when the incoming flow is close to free incoming supersonic flow with gas molecules reflected from the

FIG. 5. The average shear stress F

in terms of Kn at different temperature
ratios T w . [(a)–(c)] The temperature ratio
weakly affects the average shear stress
at Kn ≥ 0.01 in the case of the sub-
sonic (a), transonic (b), and moderate
supersonic (c) flows. (d) The hypersonic
effect of nonmonotonicity at the moder-
ate supersonic Mach number M = 2 for
T w = 0.25.

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 Physics of Fluids
surface, similar to what happens in the Rayleigh problem.26 As a
result, the average normal momentum flux reaches a maximum in
the transitional region.
With a decrease in the Mach number, the maximum of
P(Kn) decreases. However, the dependence P(Kn) retains the
maximum at M = 1 [see Fig. 4(a)]. With a further decrease
in the Mach number, the maximum continues to decrease, and
in addition to it, a weak minimum appears in the dependence
[see Fig. 4(b)]. The further decrease in the Mach number to
0.5 leads to the fact that in the region under consideration,
the dependence has only a weak (about 4%) minimum [see
Fig. 4(a)]. The existence of the minimum has the following physical
explanation.
At M = 0.5, the change in the flow gas density is small, and for
Re ≫ 1 [i.e., for Kn ≪ 1 in accordance with (8)], the flow can be
approximately described by the boundary-layer theory for incom-
pressible fluid around the plate.23 In this case, the gas pressure in the
region of the external flow and in the boundary layer is a little less
than p∞ .27 A decrease in Kn leads to an increase in Re and there-
fore to a decrease in the boundary layer displacement thickness and
hence to an increase in P(Kn). In addition, as Re increases, the effect
Phys. Fluids 32, 087108 (2020); doi: 10.1063/5.0014629
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of the edges on the flow decreases, and P(Kn) increases approaching
to 0.5.
On the other hand, as Kn increases and becomes of order
1, the flow ceases to be described by the boundary layer the-
ory and, at Kn ≫ 1, becomes close to the free-molecular flow
along the entire plate. In this case, P(Kn) increases and approaches
the free molecular value PFM = 0.5. As a result, P(Kn) has a
minimum.
C. The effect of gas rarefaction on the shear stress
at the plate
As mentioned above, the viscosity of gas substantially depends
on its temperature.2 In the continuous medium regime, the gas tem-
perature near the plate is very close to the temperature of the plate.
Therefore, the friction force acting on the plate in the continuous
medium regime substantially depends on the temperature of the
plate. With an increase in the Knudsen number, the temperature
jump in the vicinity of the plate increases, and the transition regime
at Knδ ≅ 1, it becomes of the order of unity. This should lead to a
significant decrease in the influence of the plate temperature on the
FIG. 6. The average energy flux Q trans-
ferred to the plate in terms of Kn at vari-
ous T w : (a) T w = 1; (b) T w = 0.25; (c) T w
= 2; (d) T w = 4.
32, 087108-8
 Physics of Fluids
friction force in the transitional regime, regardless of the model of
interaction of molecules.
The dependences F(Kn) obtained at different Mach numbers
and temperature ratios are shown in Fig. 5. These dependencies have
the limiting values. Indeed, according to the kinetic theory,2 F(Kn)
is proportional to Knδ at Knδ ≪ 1. Hence, we get
F(Kn,M, Tw ) → 0 at Kn → 0.
On the other hand, according to Ref. 20, we have
√ ing flow, the average dimensionless normal momentum transferred
1 κ
F(Kn, M, Tw ) → FFM = M at Kn → ∞.
2 2π
As can be seen from Figs. 5(a)–5(c), at subsonic, transonic, and
moderate supersonic Mach numbers, the temperature ratio weakly
affects the friction force acting on the plate not only for Kn ≫ 1 but
also in the entire transitional region at least for 0.25 < T w < 4.
Note that at M ≫ 1, the situation changes. For hypersonic Mach
numbers, F(Kn) is nonmonotonic at Kn ≫ 1 and the value and
position of the maximum depend on T w .2,9 In addition, it is shown
in Ref. 2 that the hypersonic effects can also occur at M ≅ 1 for
T w ≪ 1. This conclusion for the moderate supersonic Mach num-
bers is confirmed by the results presented in Fig. 5(d) for T w = 0.25.
The dependence F(Kn) has a weak maximum at M = 2.
D. The effect of gas rarefaction on the energy flux
transferred to the plate
The dependences Q(Kn) obtained at different Mach numbers
and temperature ratios are shown in Fig. 6. These dependencies also
have the limiting values. Indeed, according to the kinetic theory,2
Q(Kn) is proportional to Knδ at Knδ ≪ 1. Hence, we get
Q(Kn,M, Tw ) → 0 at Kn → 0.
On the other hand, according to Ref. 20, we have
√
1 1 κM2
Q(Kn,M, Tw ) → QFM = ( + 2(1 − Tw )) at Kn → ∞.
4 π 2
At T w = 1, the dependence Q(Kn) is monotonically increasing for
the considered subsonic and supersonic values of M [see Fig. 6(a)].
At T w = 0.25, the dependence Q(Kn), as well as F(Kn), above has a
weak maximum at M = 2 and even already at M = 1.5 [see Fig. 6(b)].
This agrees with the corresponding estimates from Ref. 2 for
T w ≪ 1 and M ≅ 1.
If T w > 1 and the Mach number is large enough, then the depen-
dence Q(Kn) can have a negative minimum [see Fig. 6(d)] and even
change the sign [see Fig. 6(c)]. This effect was previously observed
near leading edge12 and in the Rayleigh and Couette problems.26,28
It is associated with a change in the energy transfer mechanism dur-
ing the transition from the Navier–Stokes flow regime to the free
molecular regime.
V. CONCLUSION
We have considered the subsonic, transonic, and supersonic
rarefied monatomic gas flow past a flat plate at zero angle of attack
at the transitional regime. To find the steady-state flow past a plate,
we have investigated the unsteady-state flow around a plate suddenly
starting to move with a constant velocity. We have used the DSMC
Phys. Fluids 32, 087108 (2020); doi: 10.1063/5.0014629
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
method. For small Knudsen numbers, we have solved the Navier–
Stokes equations with the slip conditions at the plate. We have stud-
ied the dependences of the shear stress, normal momentum, and
energy fluxes transferred to the plate on the Knudsen number and
on the distance from the leading edge. The DSMC results for shear
stress at the plate are in good agreement with the experimental data22
for different Knudsen numbers (0.041 < Kn < 0.244).
If the plate temperature is equal to the temperature of the undis-
turbed gas, we have shown that at any Mach number of the incom-
to the plate P(Kn) has at least one extreme as a function of the
Knudsen number. In supersonic and sonic cases, P(Kn) has a maxi-
mum. In the case of subsonic transonic Mach number M = 0.8, the
dependence P(Kn) has a weak maximum and a weak minimum. At
M = 0.5, in the considered Knudsen number range, P(Kn) has only
a weak minimum. We show that the existence of the extrema is due
to the fact that the properties of the flow are significantly different
at Kn ≪ 1 vs Kn ≫ 1. In the case of the supersonic flow around the
plate, the difference in the flow properties causes P(Kn) to have a
maximum. On the other hand, for the subsonic flow, the difference
leads to a weak minimum.
We show that in contrast to the continuous regime, in the tran-
sitional regime, the influence of the plate temperature on the friction
force at subsonic and moderate supersonic Mach numbers of the
incoming flow is very small in a very wide temperature range.
We show that in the case of a sufficiently “cold” plate, in accor-
dance with a qualitative analysis,2 the dependences of the aver-
age dimensionless horizontal momentum and energy fluxes trans-
ferred to the plate on the Knudsen number have a weak maximum
at moderate supersonic Mach numbers. We have also found that
there exist intervals of plate temperatures ratios and Mach numbers
such that the average dimensionless energy flux transferred to the
plate changes the sign if the Knudsen number increases, previously
reaching a local negative minimum.
DATA AVAILABILITY
The data that supports the findings of this study are available
within the article.
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