The Influence of Variable Soft Sphere Model Parameters on the Calculation of Heat Flow by the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method

The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is widely used in solving problems of rarefied gas dynamics. Implementation of this method is dependent on the choice of model used for simulating particle collisions, which significantly affects the accuracy of simulation and the complexity of calculations. One of the widely used collision models is the variable soft sphere (VSS) model. The presented work is devoted to the study of the influence of the VSS model parameters on the calculated macroparameters of simulated gas at various degrees of rarefaction. Special attention is paid to the effect of model parameters on heat flux. The study was carried out using the example of a flow that occurs when a gas is heated in an annular region between two coaxial cylinders of different temperatures. Argon was used as a simulated gas. To assess the accuracy of the results obtained by the DSMC method, they were compared with the results of solving the Fourier equation. The parameters of the VSS model are shown to significantly affect the results of heat flux calculation by the DSMC method.