Deterministic computation of the Boltzmann transport equation with anisotropic scattering cross section

Abstract

Summary form only given. We present recent work extending the conservative spectral method for the Boltzmann transport equation developed by Gamba and Tharkabhushanam. This formulation is derived from the weak form of the Boltzmann equation, which represents the collisional term as a weighted convolution in Fourier space. We have extended the method to the case of anisotropic scattering cross sections and have investigated the grazing collisions limit of the Boltzmann equation with screened Coulomb potentials. We also present new results demonstating the method's versatility by simulating collisions with Lennard-Jones and other similar intermolecular potentials.