From the Boltzmann Equation to the Euler Equations in the Presence of Boundaries

The fluid dynamic limit of the Boltzmann equation leading to the Euler equations for an incompressible fluid with constant density in the presence of material boundaries shares some important features with the better known inviscid limit of the Navier-Stokes equations. The present paper slightly extends recent results from [C. Bardos, F. Golse, L. Paillard, Comm. Math. Sci., 10 (2012), 159--190] to the case of boundary conditions for the Boltzmann equation more general than Maxwell's accomodation condition.Comment: 22 pages, work presented at the Eighth International Conference for Mesoscopic Methods in Engineering and Science (ICMMES-2011), Lyon, July 4-8 201

The Steady Boltzmann and Navier-Stokes Equations

The paper discusses the similarities and the differences in the mathematical theories of the steady Boltzmann and incompressible Navier-Stokes equations posed in a bounded domain. First we discuss two different scaling limits in which solutions of the steady Boltzmann equation have an asymptotic behavior described by the steady Navier-Stokes Fourier system. Whether this system includes the viscous heating term depends on the ratio of the Froude number to the Mach number of the gas flow. While the steady Navier-Stokes equations with smooth divergence-free external force always have at least one smooth solutions, the Boltzmann equation with the same external force set in the torus, or in a bounded domain with specular reflection of gas molecules at the boundary may fail to have any solution, unless the force field is identically zero. Viscous heating seems to be of key importance in this situation. The nonexistence of any steady solution of the Boltzmann equation in this context seems related to the increase of temperature for the evolution problem, a phenomenon that we have established with the help of numerical simulations on the Boltzmann equation and the BGK model.Comment: 55 pages, 4 multiple figure

Second-order Knudsen-layer analysis for the generalized slip-flow theory II: Curvature effects

Numerical analyses of the second-order Knudsen layer are carried out on the basis of the linearized Boltzmann equation for hard-sphere molecules under the diffuse reflection boundary condition. The effects of the boundary curvature have been clarified in details, thereby completing the numerical data required up to the second order of the Knudsen number for the asymptotic theory of the Boltzmann equation (the generalized slip-flow theory). A local singularity appears as a result of the expansion at the level of the velocity distribution function, when the curvature exists