Simulation of Rarefied Gas Flow in Slip and Transitional Regimes by the Lattice Boltzmann Method

In this paper, a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based simulation of microscale flow has been carried out, for various values of Knudsen number. The details in determining the parameters critical for LBM applications in microscale flow are provided. Pressure distributions in the slip flow regime are compared with the analytical solution based on the Navier-Stokes equationwith slip-velocity boundary condition. Satisfactory agreements have been achieved. Simulations are then extended to transition regime (Kn = 0.15) and compared with the same analytical solution. The results show some deviation from the analytical solution due to the breakdown of continuum assumption. From this study, we may conclude that the lattice Boltzmann method is an efficient approach for simulation of microscale flow.