U.S.-Brazil Cooperative Research: Analytical and Computational Methods Related to the Linearized Boltzmann Equation

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This U.S.-Brazil award will support Dr. Charles E. Siewert, North Carolina State University in a cooperative research effort with Dr. Liliane B. Barichello at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Their project concerns the general area of rarefied-gas dynamics, focused on solving the Poiseuille-flow problem, the thermal-creep flow problem, and the Couette-flow problem as defined by the linearized Boltzmann equation for rigid-sphere interactions and the Cercignani-Lampis boundary condition applied at the two surfaces that contain flow. The work will be based on analytical discrete ordinates method and the use of a Legendre expansion in terms of the speed variable. This is an important project in which the PIs consider the use of the Cercignani-Lampis boundary condition to define the classical problems of Poiseuille flow, thermal-creep flow and Couette flow in plane channel.The results of this research could help implement new analytical and computational methods with applications to nanotechnology, a priority area for both NSF and the Federal Government. Coupled with ever-improved computing machines, it also has the potential to define an improved standard of analysis and design of mechanical systems, as evidenced by the PIs' discussions with engineers in the U.S., Brazil, Japan and Greece about their work. Specific possible applications include micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).