Analysis of Carleman Linearization of Lattice Boltzmann

We explore the Carleman linearization of the collision term of the lattice Boltzmann formulation, as a first step towards formulating a quantum lattice Boltzmann algorithm. Specifically, we deal with the case of a single, incompressible fluid with the Bhatnagar Gross and Krook equilibrium function. Under this assumption, the error in the velocities is proportional to the square of the Mach number. Then, we showcase the Carleman linearization technique for the system under study. We compute an upper bound to the number of variables as a function of the order of the Carleman linearization. We study both collision and streaming steps of the lattice Boltzmann formulation under Carleman linearization. We analytically show why linearizing the collision step sacrifices the exactness of streaming in lattice Boltzmann, while also contributing to the blow up in the number of Carleman variables in the classical algorithm. The error arising from Carleman linearization has been shown analytically and numerically to improve exponentially with the Carleman linearization order. This bodes well for the development of a corresponding quantum computing algorithm based on the Lattice Boltzmann equation.

Inversion of the transverse force on a spinning sphere moving in a rarefied gas

The flow around a spinning sphere moving in a rarefied gas is considered in the following situation: (i) the translational velocity of the sphere is small (i.e. the Mach number is small); (ii) the Knudsen number, the ratio of the molecular mean free path to the sphere radius, is of the order of unity (the case with small Knudsen numbers is also discussed); and (iii) the ratio between the equatorial surface velocity and the translational velocity of the sphere is of the order of unity. The behaviour of the gas, particularly the transverse force acting on the sphere, is investigated through an asymptotic analysis of the Boltzmann equation for small Mach numbers. It is shown that the transverse force is expressed as $\boldsymbol{F}_L = {\rm \pi}\rho a^3 (\boldsymbol{\varOmega} \times \boldsymbol{v}) \bar{h}_L$ , where $\rho$ is the density of the surrounding gas, a is the radius of the sphere, $\boldsymbol {\varOmega }$ is its angular velocity, $\boldsymbol {v}$ is its velocity and $\bar {h}_L$ is a numerical factor that depends on the Knudsen number. Then, $\bar {h}_L$ is obtained numerically based on the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model of the Boltzmann equation for a wide range of Knudsen number. It is shown that $\bar {h}_L$ varies with the Knudsen number monotonically from 1 (the continuum limit) to $-\tfrac {2}{3}$ (the free molecular limit), vanishing at an intermediate Knudsen number. The present analysis is intended to clarify the transition of the transverse force, which is previously known to have different signs in the continuum and the free molecular limits.

Analysis of application and improvement of methods to solve discrete models of Boltzmann equation

To describe technological systems using models of Markov chains and discrete models of the Boltzmann equation it is necessary to determine the probabilities of transition of a system from one state to another. An urgent topic of a scientific research is to improve the accuracy of solving the Boltzmann equation by making a reasonable choice of probabilities of transition and admissible areas of their application. The strategy to model and determine the probabilities of transitions is based on the finite volume method, the ratios of the theory of probability and the joint analysis of material and energy balances. Considering the ratios of the theory of probability, the authors have obtained the refined formula for the probabilities of transitions over the cells of the computational space of discrete models of the Boltzmann equations in case of the description of technological systems. Recommendations to choose the area of application of the model are presented. The computational analysis has showed a significant improvement of the quality of forecasting when we implement the proposed dependencies and recommendations. The relative error of calculating the energy of the system is reduced from 8,4 to 2,8 %. The presented calculated dependencies to determine the probabilities of transition and recommendations for their application can be used to simulate various technological processes and improve the quality of their description.

Extraction of Tangential Momentum and Normal Energy Accommodation Coefficients by Comparing Variational Solutions of the Boltzmann Equation with Experiments on Thermal Creep Gas Flow in Microchannels

In the present paper, we provide an analytical expression for the first- and second-order thermal slip coefficients, σ1,T and σ2,T, by means of a variational technique that applies to the integrodifferential form of the Boltzmann equation based on the true linearized collision operator for hard-sphere molecules. The Cercignani-Lampis scattering kernel of the gas-surface interaction has been considered in order to take into account the influence of the accommodation coefficients (αt, αn) on the slip parameters. Comparing our theoretical results with recent experimental data on the mass flow rate and the slip coefficient for five noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon), we found out that there is a continuous set of values for the pair (αt, αn) which leads to the same thermal slip parameters. To uniquely determine the accommodation coefficients, we took into account a further series of measurements carried out with the same experimental apparatus, where the thermal molecular pressure exponent γ has been also evaluated. Therefore, the new method proposed in the present work for extracting the accommodation coefficients relies on two steps. First of all, since γ mainly depends on αt, we fix the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient in such a way as to obtain a fair agreement between theoretical and experimental results. Then, among the multiple pairs of variational solutions for (αt, αn), giving the same thermal slip coefficients (chosen to closely approximate the measurements), we select the unique pair with the previously determined value of αt. The analysis carried out in the present work confirms that both accommodation coefficients increase by increasing the molecular weight of the considered gases, as already highlighted in the literature.

Third-order transport coefficients for electrons in N2 and CF4: effects of non-conservative collisions, concurrence with diffusion coefficients and contribution to the spatial profile of the swarm

Using a multi-term solution of the Boltzmann equation and Monte Carlo simulation technique we study behaviour of the third-order transport coefficients for electrons in model gases, including the ionisation model of Lucas and Saelee and modified Ness-Robson model of electron attachment, and in real gases, including N2 and CF4. We observe negative values in the E/n 0-profiles of the longitudinal and transverse third-order transport coefficients for electrons in CF4 (where E is the electric field and n 0 is the gas number density). While negative values of the longitudinal third-order transport coefficients are caused by the presence of rapidly increasing cross sections for vibrational excitations of CF4, the transverse third-order transport coefficient becomes negative over the E/n 0-values after the occurrence of negative differential conductivity. It is found that the accuracy of the two-term approximation for solving the Boltzmann equation is sufficient to investigate the behaviour of the third-order transport coefficients in N2, while for electrons in CF4 it produces large errors and is not even qualitatively correct . The influence of implicit and explicit effects of electron attachment and ionisation on the third-order transport tensor is investigated. In particular, we discuss the effects of attachment heating and attachment cooling on the third-order transport coefficients for electrons in the modified Ness-Robson model, while the effects of ionisation are studied for electrons in the ionisation model of Lucas and Saelee, N2 and CF4. The concurrence between the third-order transport coefficients and the components of the diffusion tensor, and the contribution of the longitudinal component of the third-order transport tensor to the spatial profile of the swarm are also investigated. For electrons in CF4 and CH4, we found that the contribution of the component of the third-order transport tensor to the spatial profile of the swarm between approximately 50 Td and 700 Td, is almost identical to the corresponding contribution for electrons in N2. This suggests that the recent measurements of third-order transport coefficients for electrons in N2 may be extended and generalized to other gases, such as CF4 and CH4.