Numerical Analysis of Gas Flows in Microchannels in Series

직렬 미소채널 기체유장의 수치해석

A kinetic theory analysis is made of low-speed gas flows in a microfluidic system consisted of three microchannels in series. The Boitzmann equation simplified by a collision model is solved by means of a finite difference approximation with the discrete ordinate method. For the evaluation of the present method results are compared with those from the DSMC method and an analytical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations with slip boundary conditions. Calculations are made for flows at various Knudsen numbers and pressure ratios across the channel. The results compared well with those from the DSMC method. It is shown that the analytical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations with slip boundary conditions which is suited fur fully developed flows can give relatively good results. In predicting the geometrically complex flows up to a Knudsen number of about 0.06. It is also shown that the present method can be used to analyze extremely low-speed flow fields for which the DSMC method is Impractical.