International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering

ISSN for PRINT: 1543-1649

For Online Access

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2005, Volume3

Issue 1

135 pages

DOI: 10.1615/IntJMultCompEng.v3.i1

Issue price - $178.00

Lowell Baker
Mechanical Engineering Department Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

Nicolas G. Hadjiconstantinou
Mechanical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

We present a hybrid simulation framework for steady-state dilute gas flows. The ingredients of this hybrid formulation are the Navier-Stokes description on the continuum side and the Boltzmann description on the atomistic side. Steady-state numerical solutions of the Boltzmann equation are obtained via an iterative finite difference formulation; these are coupled to the Navier-Stokes solution using the Schwarz alternating method, an iterative domain decomposition framework for steady-state problems. The Schwarz method is well suited for molecular-continuum hybrid methods because it provides time scale decoupling. It also enables the use of an iterative method for obtaining steady solutions in the Boltzmann domain leading to a fully implicit hybrid formulation with no time scale limitations. We show that interleaving the outer (Schwarz) iteration with the inner (Boltzmann) iteration leads to additional computational savings.

DOI: 10.1615/IntJMultCompEng.v3.i1.40 Download article, 49-58 pages

Article price - $35.00

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