Application of a Moment Method to Heat Transfer in Rarefied Gases

Abstract

A full-range moment method developed by Lees is applied to heat transfer across a large temperature difference in a rarefied gas. Two solutions are obtained: a four-moment result for hardsphere molecules and a six-moment result for Maxwellian molecules. The four-moment solution for hard spheres exhibits the same behavior as Lees' result for Maxwellian molecules. Moreover, the six-moment result differs significantly from the lower-order solution for Maxwellian molecules only in the prediction of a varying pressure.