Simulation of Rarefied Gas Flows in MEMS/NEMS Using a Molecular Method Available to Purchase

In this work, the development of a two-dimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) Program for pressure boundaries using unstructured cells and its applications to typical micro-scale gas flows are described. For the molecular collision kinetics, variable hard sphere molecular model and no time counter collision sampling scheme have been used. Applications to micro-scale gas flows include micro-nozzel, nano channel and slider air bearing. The aim is to further test the treatment of pressure boundaries. For slider air bearing gas flows of the computer hard drive, the simulated gas pressures, at different rotating speeds, have a very good agreement with previous studies. The applicability of the treatment of pressure boundaries using the equilibrium Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution function was discussed in terms of the magnitude of the local Knudsen number at the pressure boundary for micro-nozzles and slider air bearing applications.