Multicomponent diffusion revisited

The derivation of the multicomponent diffusion law is revisited. Following Furry [Am. J. Phys. 16, 63 (1948)], Williams [Am. J. Phys. 26, 467 (1958); Combustion Theory, 2nd ed. (Benjamin/Cummings , Menlo Park, CA,1985)] heuristically rederived the classical kinetic theory results using macroscopic equations, and pointed out that the dynamics of the mixture fluid had been assumed inviscid. This paper generalizes the derivation, shows that the inviscid assumption can easily be relaxed to add a new term to the classical diffusion law, and the thermal diffusion term can also be easily recovered. The nonuniqueness of the multicomponent diffusion coefficient matrix is emphasized and discussed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.