Thermophoresis of a spherical particle in a rarefied gas of a transition regime

A theoretical study is made of thermophoresis of a solid sphere in a rarefied gas in which a uniform temperature gradient and a uniform velocity at infinity exist. The analysis is carried out on the basis of the linearized Bhatnager–Gross–Krook (BGK) equation, from which simultaneous integral equations for the density, flow velocity, and temperature are derived. These equations are solved numerically over a wide range of Knudsen numbers covering the area from the slip flow to the nearly free molecular flow. A formula for the variation of the thermophoretic force acting on the sphere versus the Knudsen number is obtained for any value of thermal conductivity of the sphere when there is no imposed flow at infinity. The thermophoretic velocity of a suspended sphere in a gas is also calculated. The flow patterns as well as the distributions of temperature are shown.