Navier-Stokes simulations of gas flow in micro devices

A numerical study of flow in micro channels and micro pipes is described. The simulations are performed by solving Navier-Stokes equations with a slip velocity boundary condition, using the LU-TVD implicit algorithm. A second-order slipping model incorporating pressure gradient is proposed and investigated. The numerical results obtained using the new slipping model are presented and found to compare well with available experimental data and numerical results from other references. Our computations also show that compressibility and the rarefied effects of gas flows are present in both micro channel and micro pipe flows. It is also found that the effect of rarefaction tends to mitigate the negative curvature of pressure distribution that can be attributed to compressibility.