A finite difference scheme for non-Cartesian mesh: Applications to rarefied gas flows

Abstract

A novel numerical scheme based on the finite-difference framework is developed, which allows us to model moderately rarefied gas flows in irregular geometries. The major hurdle in constructing numerical methods for rarefied gas flows is the prescription of the velocity-slip and temperature-jump boundary conditions as well as the discretization of an intricate set of partial differential equations. The proposed scheme is demonstrated to solve the non-linear coupled constitutive relations model along with the corresponding non-linear slip and jump boundary conditions. The computation of the discretized weights is proposed using two approaches: (i) polynomial shape functions and (ii) a generalized inverse distance approach. The non-linear terms are discretized using the fixed-point iteration method. The numerical method is validated for the Laplace equation over an annulus, and results are presented for a lid-driven curved cavity and a triangular lid-driven cavity, which delineates its performance on a skewed non-Cartesian grid. The results are validated with direct simulation Monte Carlo data from the literature, and a robust convergence for the solutions is demonstrated.