Numerical analysis of the shear and thermal creep flows of a rarefied gas over the plane wall of a Maxwell-type boundary on the basis of the linearized Boltzmann equation for hard-sphere molecules

Shear flow and thermal creep flow (flow induced by the temperature gradient along the boundary wall) of a rarefied gas over a plane wall are considered on the basis of the linearized Boltzmann equation for hard-sphere molecules and the Maxwell-type boundary condition. The problems are analyzed numerically by the finite difference method developed in Ohwada T. et al., Phys. Fluids A, 1, 1588-1599 (1989). The velocity distribution functions, as well as the slip coefficients and the Knudsen-layer structures of the macroscopic variables, are obtained accurately for the whole range of the accommodation coefficient.