Characteristics of reflected gas molecules at a solid surface

The Couette flow and a thermal problem of a rarefied nitrogen gas between two platinum walls are considered to investigate the characteristics of the reflected gas molecule at a solid surface. The analysis is based on the molecular dynamics (MD) method for the gas-wall interaction together with the direct simulation Monte-Carlo (DSMC) method for the motion of gas molecules. The accommodation coefficients of momentum, translational, and rotational energies of the molecule are obtained. The velocity and rotational energy distributions of the molecule at the wall surface are also obtained. It is found that the Maxwell-type distribution function consisting of specular and diffuse reflections well describes the distribution function of the reflected molecules if the accommodation coefficient involved is chosen properly. It is also found that the flow and temperature fields subject to the Maxwell-type reflection conditions decomposed into each direction of the space coordinates result in good agreements with those of the DSMC combined with the MD calculation. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.