Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

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Progress in Aerospace Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paerosci

Rarefied gas flow simulations using high-order gas-kinetic unified

algorithms for Boltzmann model equations
Zhi-Hui Li a,b,n, Ao-Ping Peng a, Han-Xin Zhang a,b, Jaw-Yen Yang c,d
a
China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang 621000, China
b
National Laboratory for Computational Fluid Dynamics, Beijing 100191, China
c
Institute of Applied Mechanics, Taiwan University, Taipei 10764, Taiwan
d
Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Sciences, Taiwan University, Taipei 10764, Taiwan

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This article reviews rarefied gas flow computations based on nonlinear model Boltzmann equations using
Received 4 October 2014 deterministic high-order gas-kinetic unified algorithms (GKUA) in phase space. The nonlinear Boltzmann
Received in revised form model equations considered include the BGK model, the Shakhov model, the Ellipsoidal Statistical model
3 December 2014
and the Morse model. Several high-order gas-kinetic unified algorithms, which combine the discrete
Accepted 8 December 2014
Available online 21 January 2015
velocity ordinate method in velocity space and the compact high-order finite-difference schemes in
physical space, are developed. The parallel strategies implemented with the accompanying algorithms
Keywords: are of equal importance. Accurate computations of rarefied gas flow problems using various kinetic
Rarefied gas flows models over wide ranges of Mach numbers 1.2–20 and Knudsen numbers 0.0001–5 are reported. The
Boltzmann model equations
effects of different high resolution schemes on the flow resolution under the same discrete velocity
Kinetic theory of gases
ordinate method are studied. A conservative discrete velocity ordinate method to ensure the kinetic
Discrete velocity ordinate method
High order gas-kinetic unified algorithms compatibility condition is also implemented. The present algorithms are tested for the one-dimensional
Aerodynamics covering various unsteady shock-tube problems with various Knudsen numbers, the steady normal shock wave structures
flow regimes for different Mach numbers, the two-dimensional flows past a circular cylinder and a NACA 0012 airfoil
Spacecraft re-entry to verify the present methodology and to simulate gas transport phenomena covering various flow re-
gimes. Illustrations of large scale parallel computations of three-dimensional hypersonic rarefied flows
over the reusable sphere–cone satellite and the re-entry spacecraft using almost the largest computer
systems available in China are also reported. The present computed results are compared with the
theoretical prediction from gas dynamics, related DSMC results, slip N–S solutions and experimental
data, and good agreement can be found. The numerical experience indicates that although the direct
model Boltzmann equation solver in phase space can be computationally expensive, nevertheless, the
present GKUAs for kinetic model Boltzmann equations in conjunction with current available high-per-
formance parallel computer power can provide a vital engineering tool for analyzing rarefied gas flows
covering the whole range of flow regimes in aerospace engineering applications.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
2. Kinetic Boltzmann model equations and velocity space discretization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
2.1. One-dimensional reduction of Boltzmann model equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
2.2. Two-dimensional reduction of Boltzmann model equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
2.3. Kinetic model with internal degree of freedom for diatomic gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3. Construction of spatially high-order compact gas-kinetic schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4. Parallel computation for three-dimensional Boltzmann model equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5. Efficiency and conservation of discrete velocity ordinate method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6. Numerical results and discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

n
Corresponding author at: National Laboratory for Computational Fluid Dynamics, Beijing 100191, China.
E-mail address: zhli0097@x263.net (Z.-H. Li).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2014.12.002
0376-0421/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
82 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

6.1. One-dimensional shock-tube problems with different Knudsen numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

6.2. Normal shock wave structures for different Mach numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.3. Two-dimensional supersonic flows past a circular cylinder in near-continuum regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.4. Two-dimensional rarefied flow past a NACA 0012 aerofoil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
6.5. Three-dimensional rarefied hypersonic flows past reusable sphere–cone satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
6.6. Three-dimensional rarefied hypersonic flows past re-entry spacecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
7. Concluding remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

1. Introduction
The hypersonic rarefied gas flows of all flow regimes, covering
continuum, slip, transitional and free molecular flows, are crucial
fundamental and challenges to the success of atmosphere reentry
spacecraft programs [1,2], as was first pioneered by Tsien [3]. The
aerothermodynamic design of hypersonic vehicles usually requires
to incorporate wind tunnel testing, flight experiments, and theo-
retical modeling and computer simulation. Computer simulation
becomes particularly attractive due to its relatively low cost and its
capability to provide needed data that may not be readily mea-
sured or observed, under conditions that cannot be reproduced in
a laboratory. The efficacy of using computer simulation relies on
the quality of the underlying physical analysis, computable mod-
eling and numerical methods for the particular application. Some
recent reviews on advances of computer modeling and simulation
of rarefied hypersonic flows, aerothermodynamics of reentry ve-
hicles and spacecraft aerodynamic analysis and design have been
given [4–13]. It is generally believed that hypersonic rarefied gas
flows can be best described by the Boltzmann equation as it can
describe the molecular transport phenomena covering the whole
range of Mach number and Knudsen number and act as the main
foundation of complex gas dynamics. However, the Boltzmann
equation is a nonlinear integral differential equation in phase
space and time [14–17] and its analytical solution is possible only
for some simple problems, and for general problems of engineer-
ing interest numerical methods are usually pursued [18–22].
The most widely used particle-simulation method for the
Boltzmann equation is the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC)
method developed by Bird [23,24] and by Nanbu [25]. Contrasting
with the stochastic DSMC methods, numerical methods that di-
rectly treat the collision operator of the full Boltzmann equation
deterministically have been presented using fast Fourier transform
techniques by Bobylev and Rjasanow [26,27] and later improved
by Pareschi and Perthame [28] and Pareschi and Russo [29]. Re-
cently, a class of efficient deterministic direct Boltzmann equation
solvers that can treat wide class of collision kernels using fast
spectral methods have been devised by Wu et al. [30,31]. Since the
full Boltzmann equation is simulated, the above mentioned DSMC
and deterministic direct solution methods can be applied to treat
all Knudsen number flow regimes of rarefied gases.
Another concurrent development for solving the rarefied gas
flows is to employ the simplified collision model equations which
not only retaining the main physical properties, e.g., conservation
of mass, momentum and energy, but also rendering the nonlinear
integral differential equation into nonlinear partial differential
equation which allows more manageable mathematical and nu-
merical treatment as compared to the original Boltzmann equa-
tion. The first such model was the one devised by Bhatnager, Gross
and Krook (BGK) [32] and Wealander [33] and later other kinetic
models such as Kogan [34], Shakhov [35] and Ellipsoidal Statistical
(ES) model [36] and Morse model for gases with internal degree of
freedom [37]. All these kinetic models have been found adequate
for describing rarefied gas transports from the mesoscopic scale.
Since the 1960s, the computations of rarefied gas flows using the
kinetic models of the original Boltzmann equation have been ad-
vanced [38–51] commendably with the development of powerful
computers and numerical methods. The general rarefied gas flows
can be characterized by a physical flow state controlling parameter,
the Knudsen number, which is defined as the ratio of the molecular
mean free path to the characteristic length of the flow, i.e.,
Kn¼ λ1/L. It is generally accepted that when the Knudsen number
Kn of the flow is higher than 0.02, the DSMC method can provide
efficient and accurate solutions [52,53] while when Kn is smaller
than 0.02, and particularly in the transitional and near-continuum
regimes, the efficiency of DSMC method may decay due to the
limitation on the cell size, time step, and the need of the number of
particles per cell. The cell size in physical space is required less than
the mean free path of the gas molecules, thus the total number of
simulated particles in a simulation run can become very large [54–
58]. To a first approximation, a decrease in Kn of a factor of 10 re-
quires decreases in cell volume and time step of 103 and 10, re-
spectively, leading to a factor of 104 increase in simulation time. The
practical use of DSMC becomes prohibitively expensive as Kn is
reduced through the transitional regime 0.001oKno1 [56]. Al-
ternatively, it has been indicated in [45,47,48,50,51] that a unified
computational modeling based on the Boltzmann model equations
can be applied to treat flow transport phenomena around complex
bodies in various flow regimes. The theory and computational
techniques of a gas-kinetic unified algorithm [45,47,48,51,59–61]
have been established and used to simulate the one-dimensional,
two-dimensional and three-dimensional gas flows from highly
rarefied free-molecular flow to continuum flow regimes with the
whole range of Knudsen numbers. The unified Boltzmann model
equations solvers have been developed as an efficient and unified
tool for simulating gas flows covering the full spectrum of flow
regimes and a whole range of Mach numbers, and the term gas-
kinetic unified algorithm (GKUA) was adopted in [45,48,50,51,59–
61]. Similar terminology was used in [49]. The rarefied gas flows
occur not only in the traditional hypersonic flow around space ve-
hicles with high altitude, low density hypersonic flows but also in
modern micro- and nano-fluidic flows involved in MEMS/NEMS
devices [62–64] as well as in vacuum technology [65,66] employed
widely in semiconductor manufacturing industry. The other related
flow computation involving solving the kinetic Boltzmann–BGK
model equations occurs in the so-called lattice Boltzmann method
(LBM) [67–71] and kinetic BGK-type schemes adapting to com-
pressible continuum flow, near continuum or rarefied flow [72–84].
The two methods have been extensively developed in the past two
decades and have become new approaches for computational fluid
dynamics.
In the study of general 3-D hypersonic rarefied gas flow over a
spacecraft using computer simulation, it is fair to state that the
DSMC method and direct Boltzmann model equation solvers in
phase space can provide the needed capability for simulating the
aerodynamics covering the whole flight trajectory of a spacecraft
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
even though it can be very computationally expensive and re-
quiring large computer facility. The DSMC and the Boltzmann
model equation solver can be complementary to each other to
meet the practical need of hypersonic rarefied flows over wide
range of Mach number and Knudsen number. With the rapid ad-
vance of computer technology, today it is possible to have such a
large scale computing facility with more than tens of thousands
Central Processing Units (CPU) available for one to conduct com-
puter simulation of hypersonic rarefied flows. An important issue
regarding to the 3-D Boltzmann model equation solver in phase
space is that the unknown distribution function is a function of
seven independent variables in phase space and time, and the
need of efficient parallel implementation of the high-order solu-
tion algorithm should be emphasized. Thus, the combination of
high-order accurate numerical solution methods and its corre-
sponding parallel implementation are of crucial importance to
reduce the computational time and the system memory require-
ment to satisfy routinely practical engineering analysis and design
of such hypersonic vehicles.
In this article, we shall confine our scope to computations of
rarefied gas flows governed by the kinetic Boltzmann model
equations using deterministic numerical methods by directly sol-
ving the molecular velocity distribution function in phase space.
Direct simulation of the kinetic Boltzmann model equations for
various rarefied gas flows covering wide range of Knudsen num-
bers or flow regimes can provide useful information and data base
for the aerothermodynamics of spacecraft re-entering Earth's at-
mosphere with comparison of the results obtained using other
approaches such as DSMC and low-density wind-tunnel experi-
ments. The class of direct solvers in phase space for the Boltzmann
model equation considered is referred as the high-order gas-ki-
netic unified algorithm which consists of two major discretization
elements. The first element is discretization of the velocity space
which is usually three-dimensional and the most widely used
method is the discrete velocity ordinate (DVO) method [39–51,59–
62,85–87]. After applying the DVO method to the distribution
function, the original governing Boltzmann model equation in
phase space will become a set of hyperbolic partial differential
equations for the discrete distribution functions in physical space
with a nonlinear collision source term which is usually stiff. These
set of equations for the discrete distribution functions at the DVO
points can be cast into conservation law form with stiff source
term. The second element is the solution of these set of non-
homogeneous hyperbolic equations for the discrete distribution
functions at each DVO point with the class of modern high-order
shock-capturing schemes [42,89–93] in physical space. The latter
class of high resolution shock-capturing schemes includes many
developments in the past three decades such as total variation
diminishing (TVD) scheme [90], essentially non-oscillatory (ENO)
scheme [91], weighted ENO (WENO) [92–94], discontinuous Ga-
lerkin (DG) method [95], and compact high-order schemes [96–
98]. In the past years, the new high-order methods for the Euler
and Navier–Stokes equations have been developed for computa-
tional fluid dynamics, see [99–102]. A proper description of these
vast developments is beyond the scope of this paper. We refer the
reader to many excellent review articles on this aspect [99–102].
Since the distribution function of the Boltzmann model equa-
tion is a scalar function in phase space and is a much smoother
function than the macroscopic fluid dynamic variables, particu-
larly at high Mach number hypersonic flows. It remains a chal-
lenging issue to impart the desirable features of the high-order
difference schemes for continuum governing equations in physical
space to the solution methods for the Boltzmann model equations
to render a new class of gas-kinetic numerical algorithms in phase
space with higher accuracy. Indeed, several gas-kinetic unified
algorithms for flows from rarefied transitional to continuum
83
regimes have been developed [45,47,48,50,51,59–62,103–105] for
the full spectrum of flow regimes. During the computational
process of this gas-kinetic unified algorithm, the discrete velocity
distribution functions need to be stored and computed at all or-
dinate points in the discrete velocity space and physical space. For
a general three-dimensional atmosphere re-entry spacecraft con-
figuration, the dimensionality is six and an accurate computation
of complex rarefied flow will require a great deal of computing
memory. However, the direct computation of time evolution of the
velocity distribution function over the velocity space and physical
space can be split up into two parts: one is that the discrete ve-
locity distribution functions are solved by the gas-kinetic numer-
ical schemes with the use of the gas-kinetic boundary conditions
independently and concurrently at every given DVO point, the
other is that macroscopic flow variables at each point of the
physical space are evaluated by the discrete velocity numerical
integration quadrature methods. The essential and important
feature of the above-mentioned computational strategy is that the
calculation in the velocity space can be uncoupled from that in the
physical space without any communication connection, which
makes the GKUA well suitable for large scale parallel computation.
From the experience of the high-order compact schemes in tra-
ditional CFD, higher computing accuracy and resolution can be
achieved when using a more compact stencil of grid points. Ob-
viously, in hypersonic flows, the system of Euler/Navier–Stokes
equations governing continuum macroscopic quantities can in-
volve large variations even discontinuities in flow properties
which may lead to some numerical stability problems while the
Boltzmann model equation, being a single scalar equation gov-
erning distribution function in phase space, is usually a much
smoother function, however, with a stiff collision relaxation term.
Thus, it remains a challenging issue to confirm that whether the
desirable features of high-order accurate schemes in traditional
CFD can be directly extended and applied to the gas-kinetic nu-
merical methods in phase space and any adverse effect due to the
collision term may not occur, especially when the boundary
treatment is taken into account.
Here we shall borrow heavily from our own experience and
confine to the high-order compact methods developed and em-
ployed in our own research group. It is believed that similar con-
clusion can be inferred to other high-order CFD methods. When
investigating the second-order non-oscillatory, no-free-parameter
dissipative (NND) schemes [88], several guiding rules including
dissipation control, dispersion control and spectrum control have
been suggested for constructing higher-order methods [106,107].
Under these guiding rules, high-order essentially non-oscillatory,
non-dispersive (ENN), weighted compact NND (WCNND) and
weighted compact ENN (WCENN) scheme have been devised and
studied [108]. Also, based on the adaptive weighting technique of
WENO [92,94,95], a series of weighted compact nonlinear schemes
(WCNS) have been developed [96–98,109]. The WCNS possesses
several desirable features such as having low dissipation, good
dispersion property, and approaching the exact accuracy of explicit
upwind linear high-order methods in smooth region. They also
possess good discontinuity capturing capability. Meanwhile, in
WCNS scheme, the interpolations of the flow variables are in-
dependent of the flux splitting schemes and depending on the
problem treated, these properties allow the freedom of choosing
various flow quantity extrapolating formulas and flux difference
schemes at the boundaries and have been applied to various flow
simulations such as shock wave, vortex disturbance, and boundary
layer flows. By comparing the fifth-order WCNS with the fifth-
order WENO method, it was found that the former method has
better resolution and free stream conservation, especially in the
general coordinate systems [109]. All these good features of the
WCNS have been originally developed for the continuum theory
84 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

based Euler/Navier–Stokes equations, and whether these desirable → → ⎛ 1 ⎞3/2 ⎛ (→

v − u )2 ⎞
→
properties can be carried through for the kinetic-molecular theory f M ( V , r , t) = n ⎜ ⎟ exp ⎜⎜− ⎟⎟
⎝ 2πRT ⎠ ⎝ 2RT ⎠ (2)
based Boltzmann model equations are remained to be studied for
achieving high-order non-oscillatory methods. One of the main In order to have a correct value for the Prandtl number, the fM
purposes of the present work is to construct gas-kinetic high-or- in the BGK equation is replaced by another local equilibrium dis-
der compact method and its parallel implementation on massively tribution function f N devised by Shakhov [35]. The function f N is
parallel computing facility for the Boltzmann model equations to taken as the asymptotic expansion in Hermite polynomials with
yield a robust engineering tool for rarefied gas flow computations local Maxwellian fM as the weighting function
covering wide range of flow regimes from continuum, slip, tran- →→
sitional to near free molecular flow regimes. The gas-kinetic high- f N = fM [1 + (1 − Pr) c ⋅ q (c 2/(RT ) − 5)/(5PRT )]. (3)
order compact schemes are developed first to solve the Boltzmann
Here, Pr is the Prandtl number with Pr = μC p/K , C p is the specific
model equation in one- and two-dimensional flows using reduced
heat at constant pressure, m is the coefficient of viscosity, K denotes
distribution functions. The one-dimensional shock-tube and two- →
the coefficient of the heat conduction, and q , P and T respectively
dimensional flows past aerofoil and circular cylinder with various
denote the heat flux vector, gas pressure, and temperature.
Knudsen numbers are numerically investigated to study the effect
Another model is obtained based on the statistical principle of
on the computed results from the high-order schemes and model
the most probability, the so-called ellipsoidal statistical (ES) model
equations, and the ways of improving the computational efficiency
equation [36], which is of the same form as the original BGK model
of the gas-kinetic numerical algorithm are also discussed. These
except that the Maxwellian fM is replaced by
serve the purposes of validating the present GKUA computational
methodology. Lastly, applications to practical three-dimensional ⎛ 3 ⎛ ⎞⎞
1
hypersonic rarefied flow problems over a generic satellite and an
N
f ES = n (2π)− (3/2) |Λ|− (1/2) exp ⎜⎜ ∑ ⎜− εij (Vi − Ui )(V j − U j ) ⎟ ⎟⎟.
atmosphere reentry spacecraft are illustrated with massively par- ⎝ i, j = 1 ⎝ 2 ⎠⎠
(4)
allel computation. ⇀ ⇀
Here, U and V are the gas flow velocity and molecular velocity,
This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, several Boltz-
respectively. The elements of the tensor Λ are denoted as
mann model equations are first formulated for describing gas
transport phenomena covering various flow regimes, and the re- λ
λ ij = (1 − λ) RTδij +
n
∫ (Vi − Ui )(Vj − U j ) fd⇀
V,
(5)
duced distribution functions are introduced for one- and two-di-
mensional flows. The discrete velocity ordinate technique is then where ε = Λ−1, εij are components of tensor ε , and δ ij is the Kro-
applied to each case to render a set of partial differential equations
necker delta function. We also have − (1/2) ≤ λ ≤ 1 and
with nonhomogeneous source term in physical space. In Section 3, λ = (Pr − 1)/Pr .
the gas-kinetic high-order compact schemes are constructed to A more general modification to the BGK equation that can be
solve the discrete velocity distribution functions accurately. In made is to allow the collision frequency to depend on the mole-
Section 4, the parallel implementation and computational effi- cular velocity, more precisely on the magnitude of the thermal
ciency for three-dimensional Boltzmann model equations are il- peculiar velocity. To give expression to the correlation of tem-
lustrated. In Section 5, the conservative discrete ordinate method perature, density, the molecular interaction, rarefied degree cov-
to ensure kinetic compatibility condition is implemented and its ering various flow regimes, the collision frequency ν of the gas
effect to increase the accuracy and computational efficiency is molecules can be set as the function of density, temperature, the
shown. In Section 6, numerous numerical results for the one-, two- free-stream mean free path, and the exponent of molecular power
and three-dimensional flows and gas transport phenomena cov- law with the molecular models [48,50,51,59,61] of the Variable
ering various flow regimes are presented to demonstrate the fea- Hard Sphere (VHS) and Variable Soft Sphere (VSS).
sibility and to validate the accuracy and application of the high-
order gas-kinetic unified algorithms in the field of spaceflight re- 4α (5 − 2ω)(7 − 2ω) R T∞χ − 1/2 1 n
ν= .
entering aerodynamics. Finally, some concluding remarks are gi- 5(α + 1)(α + 2) 2π n ∞ λ ∞ T χ − 1 (6)
ven in Section 7.
Morse [37] extended the monatomic BGK model to diatomic
gases with internal degree of freedoms. The collision term has
been divided into two terms such as one for the elastic collision
2. Kinetic Boltzmann model equations and velocity space and the other for the inelastic collision, and the Morse model can
discretization be expressed as

Due to the nonlinear multidimensional integral-differential ∂fl → ∂fl

+ V ⋅ → = ν el (f tlM − fl ) + νin (f ilM − fl ),
equation nature of the full Boltzmann equation, it is impractical for ∂t ∂r (7)
analytical solutions of the Boltzmann equation to be obtained
where
when treating practical rarefied gas dynamical problems. Based on
the investigation of molecular collision relaxation phenomena, the ⎛ 1 ⎞3/2 ⎛ → → 2⎞
(V − U ) ⎟
f tlM = nl ⎜ ⎟ exp ⎜⎜−
BGK collision model equation [32,33] was proposed by replacing
⎝ 2RTt ⎠ ⎝ 2RTt ⎟⎠ (8a)
the collision integral term of the Boltzmann equation with a
simple collision relaxation model
⎛ 1 ⎞3/2 ⎛ → → 2⎞
(V − U ) ⎟
∂f → ∂f f ilM = nleq ⎜ ⎟ exp ⎜⎜− .
∂t
+ v ⋅ → = −vm (f − fM ).
(1) ⎝ 2RTT ⎠ ⎝ 2RTT ⎟⎠ (8b)
∂r
where, f is the velocity distribution function which depends on In Eqs. (8a) and (8b), Tt is the translational temperature, TT is the
→ →
space coordinate, r molecular velocity v and time t, νm is the total static temperature, nl is the number density for internal en-
collision frequency of the BGK equation, and fM is the Maxwell ergy level l , nleq is the number density of the equilibrium state with
equilibrium distribution function given by energy level l . The νel and νin in Eq. (7) are the elastic and inelastic
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 85

collision frequencies, respectively, and are given by ^ 2λ ⎛ ^ ^ ^ ⇀ ^⎞

λ^yy = (1 − λ) T + ∫
⎜ (Vy − V )2f d V ⎟
n^ ⎝ ⎠
nkTt
ν el =
^ 2λ ⎛ ^2 ^ ⇀ ^ ⎞
(1 + a) μ (9a) = (1 − λ) T + ∫ ^ ^ 2⎟,
⎜ Vy f d V − nV
n^ ⎝ ⎠ (14b)
νin = aν el (9b)
^ 2λ 2 ^
where the coefficient a is determined by the rotational relaxa- λ^zz = (1 − λ) T +
n^
∫ V^z f^ d⇀
V,
(14c)
tional parameter, ZR which can be obtained experimentally, see
Chapman and Cowling [15] and one has 2λ ^2λ ^
λ^xy =
n^
∫ (V^x − U^ )(V^y − V^ ) f^ d⇀
V =
n^
^ ^ ^ ⇀ ^^^
( ∫ Vx Vy f d V − nUV ).
(14d)
5(1 + a)
ZR =
3a (10) Similarly, the dimensionless collision frequency ν^ of the gas
molecules can be expressed as the function of Knudsen number,
Let L ref , T∞, n∞, and m be, respectively, the reference length, the
density, temperature, and the molecular power law, and molecular
free-stream temperature, the free-stream number density, and
models, as follows:
molecular mass. Choose cm∞ = 2RT∞ and t∞ = L ref /cm∞ as the re-
ference speed and time. Then, the non-dimensional variables are ^ ^1 − χ
2α (5 − 2ω)(7 − 2ω) nT λ∞
^ ^ v^ = , Kn = .
defined as t^ = t /t∞, Ui = Ui/cm∞, Vi = Vi/cm∞, n^ = n/n∞, 5(α + 1)(α + 2) π Kn L (15)
^
p^ = p/(mn∞ cm 2
∞/2) , Pij = Pij/(mn∞ cm2
∞/2) , q^i = qi /(/mn∞ cm3 ∞/2) , ^
Once the Eq. (11) is solved for the distribution function f , all
^ ^
x^ = x/L , v^ = vt∞, f = f /(n∞/cm3 ∞ ), fM = f /(n∞/cm3 ∞ ), the macroscopic fluid properties of gas dynamics under con-
^N sideration such as density, mean velocity, temperature, viscous
f = f N /(n∞/cm3 ∞ ), λ^ij = λ ij /(RT∞), i, j = 1, 2, 3.
stress tensor and heat flux vector, etc. can be evaluated by the
The dimensionless governing equation can be obtained by non-
usual moment integrations of the velocity distribution function
dimensionalizing the Boltzmann model equation with the above
over the velocity space [15,48,51,59]. In the following, without
non-dimensional variables. For the gas flows in two space di-
causing any confusion, all of the variables are assumed to be non-
mensions, the non-dimensional Boltzmann model equation is gi-
dimensionalized, and the hat “ ” sign in the equations will be
ven by
omitted.
^ ^ ^
∂f ^ ∂f ^ ∂f ^N ^
+ Vx + Vy = ν^ (f − f ),
^
∂t ^
∂x ^
∂y (11) 2.1. One-dimensional reduction of Boltzmann model equations

For problems in one space dimension, say x , there are no gra-

^N ^
fShakhov = fM ⋅ dients of macroscopic flow variables in the other two directions,
⎧ and the two components of macroscopic flow velocity are zero
⎪ ⎡ ⎤ with V = 0 and W = 0. Then the non-dimensional Boltzmann
⎨1 + (1 − Pr) ⎢ (V^x − U
^ ^ ^ ^
) qx + (Vy − V ) q^y ⎥⎦
⎪ ⎣ model equation is given by
⎩
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ^ ⎞⎫ ∂f ∂f
^ ^ ^ ^ ^2 ^ ⎪ + Vx = v (f N − f )
⎜ 2[(Vx − U )2 + (Vy − V )2 + Vz ] ⎟ ⎜ 5pT ⎟ ⎬, ∂t ∂x (16)
⎜ − 5 ⎟ /⎜
⎜ ^
T ⎟ ⎝ 2 ⎟⎠ ⎪ Consequently, two reduced distribution functions which de-
⎝ ⎠ ⎭ (12a)
pend on the coordinate x , velocity component Vx and time t can be
⎛ ^ introduced [38,45,47,48,59,61,87]:
⎛ 1 ⎞3/2 ^ ^ ^ ^2 ⎞
^ ⎜ (Vx − U )2 + (Vy − V )2 + Vz ⎟ ∞ ∞
fM = n^ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ exp ⎜− ⎟ g (x, Vx, t) = ∫−∞ ∫−∞ f (x, Vx, Vy, Vz, t) dVy dVz,
⎝ πT^ ⎠ ⎜ ^
T ⎟ (17a)
⎝ ⎠ (12b)
∞ ∞
The Boltzmann–ES model can be expressed in dimensionless h (x, Vx, t) = ∫−∞ ∫−∞ (V y2 + V z2 ) f (x, Vx, Vy, Vz, t) dVy dVz. (17b)
form as
The velocity distribution function equation in Eq. (16) can be
^N 2 integrated with respect to Vy and Vz with weighting factors 1 and
fES = n^ (π)− (3/2) (λ^xx λ^yy λ^zz − λ^xy λ^zz )− (1/2)
V y2 + V z2 to obtain Eq. (19). In order to replace its continuous de-
⎛ ^ ^ ^ 2 ^ ^ ^2
⎜ λ yy (Vx − U ) λ^xx (Vy − V )2 Vz pendency on the velocity space, the discrete velocity ordinate
exp ⎜− − −
⎜ ^ ^ ^2 2
λ^zz method [48,51,59] can be employed in the Vx velocity space. The
⎝ (λ xx λ yy − λ xy ) (λ^xx λ^yy − λ^xy )
DVO method consists of replacing the integrals of the distribution
^ ^ ^ ^ ⎞ function over the velocity space by an approximate quadrature.
2λ^xy (Vx − U )(Vy − V ) ⎟
− 2 ⎟⎟, Then, the values of the distribution function used in the DVO
(λ^xx λ^yy − λ^xy ) ⎠ (13) points are only at certain discrete velocity ordinate nodes, that is
g (x, Vσ , t) = gσ (x, t), h (x, Vσ , t) = hσ (x, t), (18)
^ 2λ ⎛ ^ ^ ^ ⇀ ^⎞
λ^xx = (1 − λ) T + ⎜ ∫ (Vx − U )2f d V ⎟
n^ ⎝ ⎠ where Vσ are the DVO nodes in Vx -direction, respectively.
The velocity distribution function equation can be transformed
^ 2λ ⎛ ^ 2 ^ ⇀ ^ ⎞
^ ^ 2⎟,
= (1 − λ) T +
n ⎝
^ ∫
⎜ Vx f d V − nU
⎠ (14a)
into hyperbolic conservation form with nonlinear source terms at
each of DVO points, as follows:
86 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

∂U ∂F N N
+ = S, qx = ∑ Wσ Vxσ (hσ + V x2σ gσ ) eV xσ − 2U
2
∑ Wσ (V x2σ gσ ) eV xσ
2
∂t ∂x (19)
σ =−N σ =−N
where ⎛ 3 ⎞
+ nU ⎜U 2 − T ⎟.
⎛ g (x, t) ⎞ ⎝ 2 ⎠ (30)
U = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟, F = Vxσ U ,
σ

⎝hσ (x, t) ⎠
⎛ v (G N (x, t) − g (x, t)) ⎞ 2.2. Two-dimensional reduction of Boltzmann model equations
S = ⎜⎜ ⎟
σ σ
N ⎟
⎝ v (Hσ (x, t) − hσ (x, t)) ⎠ For analyses of gas flows in x and y two space dimensions, the
(σ = − N1, ⋯, − 1, 1, ⋯, N1). (20) molecular velocity distribution function equation in Eq. (11) can be
integrated with respect to Vz with weighting factors 1 and V z2 so
where, for the BGK model, we have the same equation form as Eqs. that the number of independent variables is reduced by integrat-
(19) and (20) by substituting the GσN and HσN in Eq. (20) with the ing out the dependence of f on Vz . The following reduced dis-
following G Mσ and HMσ . tribution functions are introduced:

G Mσ = n/(πT )1/2 exp ⎡⎣− (Vxσ − U)2 /T ⎤⎦, +∞

(21a) g (x, y , t , Vx, Vy ) = ∫−∞ f (x, y , t , Vx, Vy, Vz ) dVz ,
(31a)
HMσ = TG Mσ . (21b) +∞
h (x, y , t , Vx, Vy ) = ∫−∞ V z2 f (x, y , t , Vx, Vy, Vz ) dVz .
(31b)
For the Shakhov model, we have the same equation form as Eq.
(19) and Eq. (20) with After substituting Eqs. (31a) and (31b) into Eq. (11), and ap-
plying the discrete velocity ordinate method to velocity compo-
GσN {
= G Mσ 1 + (1 − Pr)(Vxσ − U) nents Vx and Vy , the single velocity distribution function equation
qx ⎡⎣2(Vxσ − U)2 /T − 3⎤⎦/(5PT /2) , } (22a)
can render two simultaneous equations which can be cast into the
hyperbolic conservation law form as follows:

∂Q ∂F x ∂F y
{
HσN = HMσ 1 + (1 − Pr)(Vxσ − U)
∂t
+
∂x
+
∂y
¯
= S,
(32)
qx ⎡⎣2(Vxσ − U)2 /T − 1⎤⎦/(5PT /2) . } (22b) where
For the ES model, we have ⎛ g (x, y, t) ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
v (G δN, σ − gσ , δ ) ⎟
Q = ⎜⎜
σ,δ
⎟ , F x = Vxσ Q , F y = Vyδ Q , S¯ = ⎜
⎟ ⎜ ⎟.
n ⎛ (Vxσ − U)2 ⎞ ⎝ h σ , δ (x, y, t) ⎠ N
⎝ v (Hδ , σ − h σ , δ ) ⎠ (33)
GσN = exp ⎜⎜− ⎟⎟,
πλ xxσ ⎝ λ xxσ ⎠ (23a) where, for the BGK model, the GσN, σ and HσN, σ in Eq. (33) can be
substituted with the following G Mσ , δ and HMσ , δ .
λ yyσ + λ zzσ
HσN = GσN , ⎡ c2 ⎤
2 (23b) n
exp ⎢− ⎥,
1σ , δ
G Mσ , δ =
πT ⎣⎢ T ⎥⎦ (34a)
N
2λ 2
λ xxσ = (1 − λ) T + ∑ Wσ (V x2σ gσ eV xσ ) − 2λU 2,
n σ =−N (24) TG Mσ, δ
HMσ , δ = .
2 (34b)
N
2λ 2
For the Shakhov model, we have
λ yyσ + λ zzσ = 2(1 − λ) T + ∑ Wσ (hσ eV xσ ).
n σ =−N (25)
G σN, δ = G Mσ, δ 1 + (1 − Pr)(ci qi )σ, δ ⎡⎣2c12σ, δ/T − 4⎤⎦/(5pT /2) ,
{ } (35a)
Once the discrete reduced distribution functions, gσ and hσ ,
have been obtained, the macroscopic flow variables at any time in
HσN, δ = HMσ, δ 1 + (1 − Pr)(ci qi )σ, δ ⎡⎣2c12σ, δ/T − 2⎤⎦/(5pT /2) ,
{ } (35b)
each point of the physical space, such as gas density, mean velo-
city, temperature, stress tensor and heat flux vector components, where
can be evaluated by the modified Gauss–Hermite quadrature for-
mula [45–48,50,59] in the following manner: c12σ, δ = (Vxσ − U)2 + (Vyδ − V )2 , (ci qi )σ, δ = (Vxσ − U) qx + (Vyδ − V ) q y

N
2
For the ES model, we have
n (x, t) = ∑ Wσ (gσ eV xσ ),
(26) n
σ =−N G σN, δ =
2
π λ xx λ yy − λ xy

1
N
2
⎛ λ (V − U ) 2 λ xx (Vyδ − V ) 2 2λ xy (Vxσ − U)(Vyδ − V ) ⎞
yy xσ
U (x, t) = ∑ Wσ (Vxσ gσ eV xσ ), exp ⎜⎜ − − − ⎟,
⎟
n σ =−N (27) 2
⎝ (λ xx λ yy − λ xy )
2
(λ xx λ yy − λ xy ) 2
(λ xx λ yy − λ xy ) ⎠ (36a)

N
3 2 λ zz G σN, δ
nT = ∑ Wσ (hσ + V x2σ gσ ) eV xσ − nU 2, HσN, δ = ,
2 σ =−N (28) 2 (36b)

N N1 N2
2λ 2 2
τxx = ∑
2
Wσ (V x2σ gσ eV xσ ) − nU 2 − p, λ xx = (1 − λ) T + ∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ (V x2σ gσ, δ eV xσ eV yδ ) − 2λU 2,
(29) n σ =−N1 δ =−N2 (37)
σ =−N
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 87

2λ
N1 N2
2 2
in the energy space. Then, we apply the Gauss–Laguerre quad-
λ yy = (1 − λ) T + ∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ (V y2δ gσ , δ e V xσ e V yδ ) − 2λV 2,
n rature formula to approximate the integral.
σ =−N1 δ =−N 2 (38)

N1 N2
θ∑ exp ( − El/TT )
2λ 2 2 l
λ zz = (1 − λ) T + ∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ (hσ, δ eV xσ eV yδ ), ∞
n σ =−N1 δ =−N2 (39) ≅ ∫0 exp ( − E/TT ) dE
M
N1 N2
2λ 2 2 ≅ ∑ R λ exp (E λ ) exp ( − E λ/TT ).
λ xy = ∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ (Vxσ Vyδ gσ, δ eV xσ eV yδ ) − 2λUV .
n λ=1 (49)
σ =−N1 δ =−N2 (40)
Here, θ is the spacing between neighboring energy states, E λ are
the roots of the M degree Laguerre polynomials, R λ are the cor-
2.3. Kinetic model with internal degree of freedom for diatomic gases responding weights of roots E λ of the Gauss–Laguerre quadrature.
It is noted that the new discrete energy levels E λ are for the nu-
Consider the governing Eqs. (7)–(9) and define the reduced merical approximation not necessarily corresponding to the actual
distribution function as follows: quantum state El .
∞ ∞ → With E λ and R λ , the n λeq can be expressed as
gl (x, y , t; Vx, Vy, El ) = ∫−∞ ∫−∞ f (x, y, t; V , El ) dVz, (41a)
n λeq = nR λ exp[E λ (1 − TT− 1)]/TT . (50)
∞ ∞ →
hl (x, y , t; Vx, Vy, El ) = ∫−∞ ∫−∞ V z2 f (x, y , t; V , El ) dVz . Accordingly, the macroscopic flow parameters in physical space
(41b)
can be solved by the same discrete velocity numerical quadrature
Then the non-dimensionalized model equations are given by rule such as the modified Gauss–Hermite quadrature and equally
∂gl ∂gl ∂gl spaced Newton–Cotes quadrature [41,42,45,47,48,59,87,103]
+ Vx + Vy = ν el (GtlM − gl ) + νin (GilM − gl ), The body fitted coordinate system is usually introduced to
∂t ∂x ∂y (42a)
handle general geometry, and the Boltzmann model equations of
∂hl ∂hl ∂hl the discrete velocity distribution functions can be cast in the
+ Vx + Vy = ν el (HtlM − hl ) + νin (HilM − hl ), transformed coordinates (ξ, η) as
∂t ∂x ∂y (42b)
∂U ∂F ∂G
where + + = S,
∂t ∂ξ ∂η (51)
⎡ (V − U ) 2 + (V − V ) 2 ⎤
nl x y
GtlM = exp ⎢− ⎥, ¯ , G = VU
where U = JQ , F = UU ¯ , S = JS¯ , and J is the Jacobian matrix
πTt ⎣⎢ Tt ⎥⎦ (43a) defined by J = (∂ (x, y)/∂ (ξ, η)) = x ξ yη − yξ x η , ξx = (1/J) yη ,
ξ y = − (1/J) x η , ηx = − (1/J) yξ , ηy = (1/J) x ξ , Ū and V̄ are defined as
nleq ⎡ (V − U ) 2 + (V − V ) 2 ⎤
x y U¯ = Vxσ ξx + Vyδ ξ y , V¯ = Vxσ ηx + Vyδ ηy .
GilM = exp ⎢− ⎥,
πTT ⎢⎣ TT ⎥⎦ (43b) In this section, all the kinetic Boltzmann model equations
considered in this work have been described and the necessary
1
HtlM = 2 Tt GtlM , formulas for one-dimensional and two-dimensional problems in
(44a)
physical space have been derived. The full three-dimensional for-
1 mulas for different kinetic models can be described in a straight-
HilM = 2 TT GilM , (44b) forward manner. In the next section, we shall describe the gas-
kinetic high-order finite-difference methods for solving the above
8 nT (1 − χ) four Boltzmann model equations.
ν el = ,
5(1 + a) π Kn∞ (45)

νil = aν el. (46)

3. Construction of spatially high-order compact gas-kinetic
After applying the discrete velocity ordinate method to Eq. (42), schemes
we have
∂Q ∂F x ∂F y For unsteady rarefied gas flows, the physical time-splitting
+ + ¯
= S,
∂t ∂x ∂y (47) method is employed to divide Eq. (19) or Eq. (51) into the colliding
relaxation equations with the nonlinear source terms and the
⎛g ⎞ convective movement equations. The Strang-type dimensional
λ, σ , δ (x , y, t)
Q = ⎜⎜ ⎟ , F x = Vxσ Q , F y = Vyδ Q ,
h ( x , y , t) ⎟ splitting was adopted and the gas-kinetic finite difference nu-
⎝ λ , σ , δ ⎠
⎛ ⎞ merical schemes can be developed to directly solve the discrete
ν el (G tM M
λ, σ , δ − g λ, σ , δ ) + ν in (G iλ, σ , δ − g λ, σ , δ ) ⎟
S¯ = ⎜⎜ ⎟.
velocity distribution functions at each of discrete velocity ordinate
M M
⎝ ν el (Htλ, σ , δ − h λ, σ , δ ) + ν in (Hiλ, σ , δ − h λ, σ , δ ) ⎠ (48) points. For the two-dimensional case, it can be given by

where g λ, σ , δ , h λ, σ , δ , G λM, σ , δ and HλM, σ , δ present respectively the values U (t + Δt) |σ , δ = L s (Δt /2) L η (Δt /2) L ξ (Δt) L η (Δt /2) L s (Δt /2) U (t) |σ , δ , (52)

of g, h, GM
and HM
at the discrete velocity ordinate points and where,Ls,Lη and Lξ denote the difference operators of the colliding
discrete internal energy levels (Vxσ , Vyδ , E λ ), where the subscripts σ , relaxation source term and convective movement equations in the
δ and λ denote σ = − N1, ... , − 1, 1, ... , N1, two different directions, respectively .
δ = − N2, ... , − 1, 1, ... , N2 and λ = 1, 2, ... , M , respectively.
To treat the internal energy, we follow [110] and first replace ∂U
= S,
the summation of the discrete quantum energy level by an integral ∂t (53a)
88 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

∂U ∂G ^ ^ ^
+ = 0, (w1α1 + w2 α2 ) f j − 1 + f j + 1 + (w2 γ2 + w3 γ3 ) f j + 3
∂t ∂η (53b) 2 2 2

= w1α1h B3 1 + w2 α2 h C 3 1 + w1h A3 1 + w2 h B3
j− j− j+ j+ 1
∂U ∂F 2 2 2 2
+ = 0.
∂t ∂ξ (53c) + w3 h C 3 + w2 γ2 h A3 + w3 γ3 h B3
j+ 1 j+ 3 j+ 3 (59)
2 2 2
The collision relaxation Eq. (53a) with non-linear source items
can be numerically simulated by the Runge–Kutta method. The where,
convective movement Eqs. (53b) and (53c) can be numerically w1 =
χ1
,
solved by the high-order compact difference method [96,97,106– χ1 + χ2 + χ3
χ2
109] from computational fluid dynamics. On the basis of the w2 =
χ1 + χ2 + χ3
,
weighted compact WCNND, WCENN and WENO schemes χ3
w3 = ,
[94,95,107,108] from the stencils of the NND and ENN schemes, χ1 + χ2 + χ3
the gas-kinetic high-order compact scheme is developed to solve C1
χ1 = ,
(IS1 + ε) p
the above model equations.
C2 C3
Considering the similarity and independency between com- χ2 = , χ3 = ,
(IS 2 + ε) p (IS 3 + ε) p
ponents of Eqs. (19) and (51) of the discrete velocity distribution 1
IS1 = (Δf 2j − (1/2) + Δf 2j − (3/2) ) + (Δf j − (1/2) − Δf j − (3/2) ) 2 ,
functions, one of the discrete velocity distribution function equa- 2
tions in one-dimensional form can be taken as the model equation 1
IS 2 = (Δf 2j + (1/2) + Δf 2j − (1/2) ) + (Δf j + (1/2) − Δf j − (1/2) ) 2 ,
2
to illustrate the construction and analysis of the gas-kinetic nu- 1
IS 3 = (Δf 2j + (3/2) + Δf 2j + (1/2) ) + (Δf j + (3/2) − Δf j + (1/2) ) 2 .
merical schemes in the following. Let us consider 2

∂u ∂f (u) Here, the linear weighted factors are set as C1 = 0.1, C2 = 0.6,
+ = 0.
∂t ∂x (54) C3 = 0.3, ε = 0.00001, p = 4 ; α2 = (3/2) α1, γ2 = − (11/18) α1, γ3 = − α1,
and α1 is a free parameter with the value of
The semi-discretized form of difference scheme in the com-
0.2. The gas-kinetic WCENN scheme possesses fifth-order accuracy
putational space of Eq. (54) can be expressed in terms of the nu-
with the set of w1 = C1, w2 = C2, and w3 = C3.
merical flux as
If the unit center type of finite difference compact scheme
⎛ ∂u ⎞ 1 ⎛⎜ ^ ^ ⎞ [96,97] is adopted for f ′j then we have:
⎜ ⎟ = − f j + 1 − f j − 1 ⎟,
⎝ ∂t ⎠ j Δx ⎝ 2 2⎠ (55)
a ˜ b
kf ′j + 1 + f ′j + kf ′j − 1 = (f j + 1/2 − f˜j − 1/2 ) + (f˜j + 3/2 − f˜j − 3/2 )
where, the numerical flux is further split into “positive” and “ne- h h (60)
gative” parts,
where a = (3/8)(3 − 2k), b = (1/24)(22k − 1), f ′j is the approxima-
^ ^+ ^− tion to the spatial derivative, and f˜j ± 1/2 ¼ f (u˜ j ± 1/2) is the numerical
f j+ 1 = f j + 1 + fj+ 1.
2 2 2 (56)
flux at element boundary.
Here, the process to construct the scheme is illustrated on the By Taylor expanding Eq. (60), one obtains
^+
basis of the finite difference of the positive flux f j + 1 and the su- ⎛ ∂f ⎞ 9 − 62k 4 (5)
2 f ′j = ⎜ ⎟ + h f j + O (hr ) + O (h6)
perscript “+” sign in the equations will be dropped for simplicity. ⎝ ∂x ⎠ j 1920 (61)
For the part of the negative flux, the constructing process of the
difference schemes is equally resembled. Denote Δf j + 1 = f j + 1 − f j . And the truncated term O (hr ) comes from the interpolation of ũ. If
2
u˜ j ± 1/2 has 5th order accuracy relative to u j ± 1/2 (r = 5) then by
Then, the NND and ENN schemes [88,91] are written as the fol-
taking k ¼0, we can derive the 5th order weighted compact non-
lowing form.
linear scheme, WCNS-E-5 [96–98]:
The NND scheme can be expressed as
75 ˜ 25 ˜
⎧1 f ′j = (f j + 1/2 − f˜j − 1/2 ) − (f j + 3/2 − f˜j − 3/2 )
⎪ Δf j − 1 = h jA+2 1 64h 384h
^ ⎪2 2 2
f j+ 1 = fj + ⎨ . 3
+ (f˜j + 5/2 − f˜j − 5/2 )
2 ⎪1 640h (62)
⎪ Δf j+ 1 = h B2
⎩2 2 j+ 1
2 (57)
If ũ which representing the boundary value of ũ, has only r th
The ENN scheme is defined by order accuracy (r o 5), i.e., f˜ (u) = f (u) + O (hr ) then the dispersion
⎧ ⎧1 and dissipation characteristics of unit center type compact scheme
⎪ ⎪ (Δf j − 1 − Δf j − 3 ) = h A3 will be dominated by ũ thus, we must have high accuracy of in-
⎪3 j+ 1
⎪1 2 2 2
Δf
⎪ 2 j− 2 1 + ⎨ terpolated ũ value at the unit element boundary. At the smooth
⎪ ⎪1
⎪ (Δf j + 1 − Δf j − 1 ) = h B3 region, unit element boundary x j ± 1/2 the 5th order interpolation
⎪ j+ 1
^ ⎩3 2 2 2
f j+ 1 = fj + ⎨ . formulas are:
2 ⎪ ⎧1
⎪ ⎪ (Δf j + 1 − Δf j − 1 ) = h B3
j+ 1
1
⎪ 1 Δf 1 − ⎪ 6 2 2 2 u˜ op
j + 1/2 = u j + (3u j − 2 − 20u j − 1 − 38u j + 60u j + 1 − 5u j + 2 )
⎨ 128 (63a)
⎪2 j+
2 ⎪ 1
⎪ ⎪ (Δf j + 3 − Δf j + 1 ) = h C3 1
⎩ ⎩6 2 2 j+
2 (58) u˜ op
1
j − 1/2 = u j − (5u j − 2 − 60u j − 1 + 38u j + 20u j + 1 − 3u j + 2 )
(63b)
128
According to the stencil of the ENN scheme, the weighted high-
order compact WCENN [107,108] scheme can be developed by h * 1
u˜ Ljω + 1/2 = u j + g + h2s Lj*
using the idea in [92] on the weighted technique 2 Lj 8 (64a)
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 89

h * 1 13 1
u˜ Rjω − 1/2 = u j − g + h2sRj
* IS2 = (f j − 2f j + 1 + f j + 2 )2 + (3f j − 4f j + 1 + f j + 2 )2 .
2 Rj 8 (64b) 12 4 (74c)

where Here, the linear weighted factors are C0 = 0.3, C1 = 0.6, C2 = 0.1,
and set ε = 10−6
3 3
Accordingly, the constructed WENO scheme processes fifth-
g Lj* = ∑ ω Lk g kj , gRj
* = ∑ ωRk g kj order accuracy in smooth regions and exhibits fourth-order ac-
k=1 k=1 (65)
curacy at the extremum points [111–113].
3 3 For the time discretization, the Runge–Kutta method is adopted
s Lj* = ∑ ω Lk s kj , sRj
* = ∑ ωRk s kj to improve the computational accuracy. Eq. (54) is written as
k=1 k=1 (66)
⎛ ∂u ⎞ 1 ^ ^
⎜ ⎟ = − (f j + (1/2) − f j − (1/2) ) = RHS (u).
1 ⎝ ∂t ⎠ j Δx (75)
g 1j = (u j − 2 − 4u j − 1 + 3u j )
2h (67a)
Then, the third-order TVD Runge–Kutta method [94] is adopted
1 for the time integration and can be expressed
g 2j = (u j + 1 − u j − 1 )
2h (67b) ⎫
u1 = un + Δt⋅RHS (un)
⎪
3 1 ⎪
g 3j =
1
( − 3u j + 4u j + 1 − u j + 2 ) u2 = un + [u1 + Δt⋅RHS (u1)] ⎪ ⎬.
(67c) 4 4
2h ⎪
1 2
un + 1 = un + [u2 + Δt⋅RHS (u2) ⎪
⎪
1 3 3 ⎭ (76)
s 1j = (u j − 2 − 2u j − 1 + u j )
h2 (68a)
A fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme, without TVD type, is gi-
ven by
1
s 2j = (u j − 1 − 2u j + u j + 1 )
h2 (68b) 1 ⎫
u1 = un + Δt⋅RHS (un) ⎪
2 ⎪
1 1 ⎪
s 3j = (u j − 2u j + 1 + u j + 2 ) u2 = un + Δt⋅RHS (u1) ⎪
h2 (68c) 2 ⎬.
⎪
u3 = un + Δt⋅RHS (u2) ⎪
The weighting ω L (R) k are defined by
n 1 1 n 1 2 3 1 3
⎪
u + = ( − u + u + 2u + u ) + Δt⋅RHS (u ) ⎪
βL (R) k CL (R) k 3 6 ⎭ (77)
ω L (R) k = 3
, βL (R) k =
∑m =1 βL (R) m (δ + ISk )2 (69) According to the computing principle [47,48,50,51,59–62,103–
105] of the gas-kinetic unified algorithm, first of all, the discrete
where ISk are the smoothness indicators and to avoid dividing by velocity ordinate method needs to be employed to discretize the
zero, one set δ = 10−6 , CL (R) k optimized weights, velocity distribution function Eqs. (11) and (16) at each velocity
component, then, the high-order compact schemes such as
1 10 5
CL1 = CR3 = , CL2 = CR2 = , C L 3 = CR 1 = . WCENN, WCNS-E-5 and WENO schemes are applied to solve the
16 16 16 (70)
reduced velocity distribution function Eqs. (19), (32) and (47).
The numerical flux expression of the fifth-order WENO scheme Corresponding to the high-order numerical discretization in space,
can be obtained following [108] and is the time discretization of the colliding relaxation source term
given by employs the aforementioned third- or fourth-order Runge-Kutta
method, and the gas-kinetic high-order numerical schemes are
^ developed to solve the Boltzmann model equations in a coupling
f j + (1/2) = ω 0 q0 + ω1q1 + ω2 q2, (71)
and iterative manner. The time step in the computation should be
where controlled by the stability condition ( Δts ) of the scheme.
Once the discrete velocity distribution functions fσ , δ, θ are nu-
1 7 11 merically solved at any time, the macroscopic flow parameters in
q0 = f j−2 − f j−1 + fj,
3 6 6 (72a) each point of the physical space, such as the gas density ρ , flow
→ →
velocity U , temperature T, stress tensor τ and heat flux vector q ,
1 5 1
q1 = − f j − 1 + f j + f j + 1, can be in turn evaluated by the appropriate discrete velocity
6 6 3 (72b)
quadrature method [47,48,50,51,59–61]. And then, the evaluated
macroscopic flow variables are used to replace and update the
1 5 1
q2 = f j + f j+1 − f j+2 , physical parameters embodied in the expressions of ν and f N of
3 6 6 (72c)
the Boltzmann model equation to simulate the evolving char-
and the nonlinear weighted factors ωk are defined as acteristic of the flow field in real-time and dynamical manner.
With the advance in each time step, the molecular velocity dis-
αk Ck tribution function in the flow field is evolved and updated by
ωk = , αk = , (k = 0, 1, 2),
α0 + α1 + α2 (ε + ISk ) p (73) numerically solving the Boltzmann model equation, and until all
the macroscopic physical variables are computed and converged to
13 1 the given precision, the computing process stops. The selections of
IS0 = (f j − 2 − 2f j − 1 + f j ) 2 + (f j − 2 − 4f j − 1 + 3f j ) 2 ,
12 4 (74a) the DVO points and the range of the discretized velocity space in
the DVO method are somewhat problem-dependent [48,51,59–
13 1 61,87,103,104]. The size of the discrete velocity domain as a rule
IS1 = (f j − 1 − 2f j + f j + 1 ) 2 + (f j − 1 − f j + 1 ) 2 ,
12 4 (74b) should be ensured in such a way that the contribution from the
90 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
integration of the velocity distribution function over the comple-
ment of this domain is negligible. The choice of the discrete ve-
locity ordinate points is dictated by the ultimate objective being
the moments of the distribution function, rather than the dis-
tribution function itself. The accuracy of the DVO method mostly
relies on both the relevant discrete velocity numerical quadrature
technique and the size of the discrete velocity domain. However,
the increase of the number of relevant DVO points always brings
about the need of more computer memory. In the computation,
the appropriate discrete velocity numerical quadrature methods
such as Gauss–Hermite, Newton–Cotes, Gauss–Legendre, Gauss-
type quadrature and Golden Section number-theoretic quadrature,
and the discrete velocity domain for the velocity space should be
selected such that they yield at least one order higher accuracy
than the required precision of the global computation. In the
modified Gauss-Hermite quadrature rule, the number of DVO
points in each dimension can be considered in the range from 14
to 48 depending on the magnitude of flow stream velocity. The
Gauss-Hermite quadrature rule merely employs some finite eva-
luation points to integrate the flow moments over the whole ve-
locity space, and for intermediate Mach number flows, it is quite
efficacious to evaluate the macroscopic flow variables with high
precision. It is noted that the application of the Gauss–Hermite
quadrature method to high speed gas flows may not be adequate
for Mach number higher than 5. For hypersonic flows with high
Mach numbers, the velocity distribution severely deviates from
the Maxwellian equilibrium with a long trail of the unsymmetrical
bimodal distribution in the real line of the velocity space, so that
the distribution function spans an extensive region of the velocity
space. This leads to the requirement of using wider velocity range
thus larger number of discrete velocity ordinate points in order to
accurately present the moments integration of the distribution
function. For these high Mach number rarefied flows, the com-
posite Gauss-Legendre quadrature rule is employed. It is noted
that the choice of the discrete velocity ordinate points is dictated
by meeting the ultimate objective that all the moments of the
distribution function, i.e., macroscopic quantities including higher
order ones, can be accurately computed.
When the precision of the DVO method is satisfied, the
finite difference computation of the hyperbolic conservation
equations with nonlinear source terms possesses favorable
stability configuration, and the numerical computation and up-
dating evolution of the velocity distribution function are quite
stable for the convergence to the computed results. Consequently,
the construction of high-order accurate schemes may not be
especially rigorous to the Runge–Kutta solution of collision re-
laxation source terms and the numerical discretization of con-
vective movement terms. To improve the high order accuracy in
capturing space information of the non-smooth flow details, the
gas-kinetic high-order and compact schemes are constructed and
presented for the Boltzmann model equations, so that the com-
putational results with the given precision and high resolution can
be obtained using less cell points by the gas-kinetic numerical
algorithm.
4. Parallel computation for three-dimensional Boltzmann
model equations
It can be shown from the present gas-kinetic numerical method
that, for one- and two-dimensional rarefied gas flow problems,
with the introduction of reduced distribution functions through
Eqs. (17), (31), and (41), one can solve them effectively on serial
computer systems. However, for three-dimensional flow problems,
the need of using six-dimensional array to store the discrete ve-
locity distribution functions leads to occupancy of large amount of
memory storage. It would be impractical to compute such three-
dimensional rarefied gas flows on serial computing systems. With
the present high-order gas-kinetic unified algorithm for 3-D hy-
personic spacecraft computation, it is essential to develop efficient
parallel algorithm implementation. It has been indicated from the
computational procedures of the GKUA that, after both the phy-
sical space and velocity space are discretized and the initial con-
dition of the flow field is set as the free-stream equilibrium state,
the direct simulation of the time evolution of the velocity dis-
tribution function over the velocity space and physical space can
be split up into two parts: one is that the discrete velocity dis-
tribution functions are solved by the gas-kinetic spatially high-
order numerical schemes described in Section 3 independently
and concurrently at every given DVO point; the other is that
macroscopic flow variables at each point of the physical space are
evaluated by the discrete velocity numerical integration methods
such as the modified Gauss–Hermite quadrature formula and the
extended Gauss-type quadrature techniques described in
[48,51,59,61,105]. The essential and important feature of the
above-mentioned computational strategy is that the calculation in
the velocity space can be uncoupled from those in the
physical space without any data communication connection,
which makes the gas-kinetic algorithm well suitable for
large-scale parallel computation. To resolve the difficulty of the
vast computer memory required by the current algorithm
in solving three-dimensional complex flows and to well exploit
massive power of parallel computers, the multi-processing
strategy and parallel implementation technique suitable for the
GKUA are investigated by using the technique of domain
decomposition.
Based on the domain decomposition technique for parallel
computing, we divide the computational domain into physical
space Ωr decomposition, velocity space Ωr decomposition or hy-
brid decomposition strategy on position space and velocity space.
Which strategy is better for the gas-kinetic numerical algorithm
depends on three aspects, namely the variable dependence rela-
tion, data communication and parallel scalability.
It has been indicated from the GKUA that, at each discrete velocity
ordinate point (Vxσ , Vyδ , Vzθ ) when a finite-difference high-order
scheme is used to solve the discrete velocity distribution functions
fσ , δ, θ , there is strong variable dependence among the three spatial
directions in the physical space Ωr , while there is no data correlation
among the three velocity directions in the discrete velocity space ΩV ;
in the procedure of performing numerical quadrature to evaluate the
macroscopic flow quantities through moment integrals of the discrete
distribution functions, there is no data dependence problem in each
spatial direction of Ωr , but in each velocity direction of ΩV there is data
correlation problem appearing in the form of reduction. The analysis of
variable dependence relation is the basis for automatic parallelization
and is also the basis for domain decomposition. Although the variable
interdependence analysis is usually done at source code level [114],
however, its concept can also be applied to algorithm level. Thus,
we conduct the variable dependence analysis at various stages
and modules of the whole algorithm. If the physical space Ωr de-
composition technique is adopted, then when a high-order gas-kinetic
scheme is used to calculate the discrete velocity distribution functions,
there exist a large amount of data communication between the sub-
space Ωr ; in the stage of calculating the macroscopic moments one
can eliminate the correlation of data reduction and to realize the full
parallelization in physical space Ωr without data communication. If the
velocity space Ω v decomposition technique is adopted, then when a
finite difference high-order scheme is used to calculate the discrete
velocity distribution functions fσ , δ, θ , there exists full parallelization
without data communication between the subspace Ω v ; in the stage of
calculating the macroscopic moments one needs to do data reduction
in subspace Ω v and there exists data communication. Basically, both
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
strategies can be adopted. If the third strategy of hybridization of Ωr
and Ω v decomposition is adopted, then there exist large data com-
munication in every stage of computation in the whole algorithm and
this is not desirable. Through the analysis and comparison of the
amount of data communication in the physical space domain Ωr de-
composition and the velocity space domain Ω v decomposition, it can
be observed that when the amount of grids in subspace Ωr is not
enough or the number of DVO points in Ω v is large, the parallel re-
duction and operation may cause some load unbalance and temporal
idleness of some processors, however, the strategy of discrete velocity
domain ΩV decomposition will perform better than that of space do-
main Ωr decomposition. In practical computation of 3-D hypersonic
flow over a spacecraft covering different flow regimes, the distribution
function depends on lager velocity range and number of DVO points,
and in order to achieve accurate quadrature integration, one usually
needs a very large number of DVO points while the number of grid
points in physical domain is kept at constant. In this situation, the
domain decomposition strategy of discrete velocity space is more
desirable.
The computation of 3-D Boltzmann model equation demands
6-dimensional arrays for the velocity distribution function in ve-
locity space as well as in physical space. For example, even just
taking 20 elements in each array, one still needs 64  106 elements
to be stored and calculated. So, the GKUA belongs to a typical data
parallel operating method, and this requires the use of the largest
number of processors available. Then the domain decomposition
technique must accommodate the need of the extendable scal-
ability of parallelization. Under the ideal case, the scalability of
parallelization means that when the scope of the problem treated
and the number of processors increase at the same ratio, the same
parallel efficiency can be maintained [115]. However, in practical
situation, a required engineering precision of resolving a complex
flow problem is preset and it is not to meet this requirement by
expanding the solution space without limit but is more desirable
to seek the optimized solution space such that one can reach the
higher parallel efficiency with the economic use of the number of
processors. Therefore, parallel scalability analysis is performed
under the assumption of fixed total grid points in space domain
and the goal is to improve the parallel efficiency as the number of
processors increases. When the space domain Ωr decomposition
technique is adopted, according to data dependence analysis, to
achieve better parallel efficiency, the number of grid points in each
spatial dimension Ni, Nj, and Nk and the number of processor ar-
rays in each dimension Npi, Npj, and Npk are related by the fol-
lowing relations:
Ni Nj Nk
≥ 4β , ≥ 4β , ≥ 4β
N pi N pj N pk (78)
where β value is taken as βZ5. If the number of space grid points
in Ωr is under 106 , the number of processors used is at most
around 125, the parallel scalability is not high and limits the effi-
ciency of the parallel computation.
However, for the velocity domain ΩV decomposition strategy,
the amount of computation for the discrete velocity quadrature
integrations for macroscopic quantities occupies about only one
fifth of the total amount of the computation of the whole GKUA.
Accordingly, the number of CPU processors can reach the number
of discrete velocity ordinate points Nσ × Nθ × Nδ , then one can
realize super-parallel computing. Thus, according to the con-
sideration of three aspects of the mutual dependency among dy-
namical variables, data communication and parallel scalability,
when the number of spatial grid points is not too large, say less
than one million, it is suggested that the velocity space ΩV de-
composition technique to be adopted. And when the number of
spatial grid points is larger than ten millions, the use of space
91
domain Ωr decomposition is preferred. In the current spacecraft
projects, the simulation of aerodynamic characteristics of space-
craft flight needs to cover wide high Mach number range and
various flow regimes, and the required number of grid points in
the 6-dimensional phase space is extremely large and the use of
velocity space ΩV decomposition strategy is recommended for
massively parallel computing. Numerical experience indicates that
in each CPU the amount of work and the memory required for
handling the solution of the distribution function is about 1/Np of
serial computing, where Np are the number of processors
participated in the parallel computing. This overcomes
the restriction of memory problem in serial computation and is of
crucial importance in computing complex 3-D hypersonic rarefied
flows. When the number of DVO points used is set and the
way for the parallel distribution of discrete velocity space is gen-
erated, each processor will have its correspondingly individual
integrality in solving the discrete velocity distribution functions
assigned to it and the degree of parallelization is higher. This be-
longs to a coarse-grain high performance parallel computing
scheme.
To illustrate and test the feasibility and parallel efficiency of
large scale 3-D rarefied gas flow computation based on the present
high-order GKUA for solving the three-dimensional Boltzmann
model equation, here we report our experience of such calculation
on the Sunway BlueLight MPP parallel supercomputer with up to
8704 ShenWei SW1600 processors using the parallel strategies
described above. First a previous simulation [48] using only 32
processors is shown in Fig. 1 for the speed-up and parallel effi-
ciency. It is observed that linear speed-up and more than 85%
parallel efficiency can be achieved. The speedup ratio of parallel
calculation in later simulations [51,61,105] with numbers of CPU
n ¼64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024 is given in Fig. 2(a), and the parallel
speedup ratio for GKUA with n ¼1440–7920 CPUs is shown in
Fig. 2(b), where the dashed line indicates the ideal speedup ratio
and the solid line depicts the present one. It can be shown from
Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 that the parallel speed-up almost goes up as near-
linearity with the increase of the number of CPU. This indicates
that the parallel computation of the GKUA possesses very high
parallel efficiency and scalability with good load balance and data
communication efficiency by the use of the present parallel
strategy of domain decomposition in the velocity space. A more
recent large scale computation of the complex hypersonic rarefied
flow over space vehicles based on the GKUA with six-dimensional
phase space grid system of 101  61  31  120  90  70 is put in
practice with 500–20,000 CPUs. The speed-up ratio and
corresponding parallel efficiency from 500 to 20,000 CPUs with
the present parallel computing scheme solving three-dimensional
Boltzmann model equations are shown in Table 1. From these
tests on small, moderate and large scale parallel computing facil-
ities for the domain decomposition strategy of the GKUA, the
measured speedup ratio is very close to the theoretical one, and at
least 88% parallel efficiency can be achieved for all various scale
computations. This validates the present high-order GKUA meth-
ods possess quite high parallel speedup and parallel efficiency.
Good parallel speedup performance can ensure to enlarge the
computational job scale by increasing the number of processors
with high parallel efficiency and expandability. This enables us to
perform extensive and large scale 3-D hypersonic rarefied flow
simulations for re-entry spacecrafts at various flight trajectory
points, although the computation is expensive and almost all the
largest computing facilities in the High-Performance Super-
computer Centers in China are utilized. Without these advanta-
geous parallel strategies, the above simulations would not be
possible
92 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

30 1

25 0.9

20 0.8

Efficiency
Speedup

15 0.7

10 0.6

5 0.5
8 16 24 32 0 8 16 24 32
Processors Processors

Fig. 1. (a) Speedup ratio and (b) parallel efficiency based on 6–32 processors for gas-kinetic parallel algorithm.

5. Efficiency and conservation of discrete velocity ordinate
method
The accuracy and efficiency of solving the Boltzmann model
equations depend on two factors. The first factor is the use of
GUKA which combining the discrete velocity ordinate method and
spatially high-order compact schemes described in Section 3. The
second factor is related to how to ensure the proper choice of the
numbers of DVO points and its range covered in order to achieve
accurate resolution of the discrete velocity distribution functions
and thus the accurate evaluations of macroscopic properties from
the moment integrals through numerical quadrature as well as to
ensure the conservation compatibility condition of the collision
integral term. If one simply increases the number of DVO points
and its velocity range in order to deal with hypersonic rarefied
complex flows then one may eventually face unbearable com-
puting power requirement and limitation. Instead we would like
to use an affordable amount of DVO points and yet good accuracy
and conservation can be maintained [44,48,51,59,61,87,105,116–
118].
The kinetic Boltzmann model equation such as (11), (16) and
(42) provides the statistical description of the gas flow in any non-
equilibrium state from the level of the kinetic theory of gases.
Since the conservation of mass, momentum and energy are kept
during molecular collisions [15,51,118], the actual computation for
the kinetic Boltzmann model equation need to satisfy the Boltz-
mann's H-theorem and conservation conditions at any time
→
∫ (f N − f ) ψ (m)dV = 0. (79)
where ψ (m) are the components of the moments on mass, mo-
mentum and energy, that is
→ →
ψ (1) = 1, ψ (2) = V , ψ (3) = | V |2 /2. (80)
In order to remove the continuous dependency of the mole-
cular velocity distribution function on the velocity space, the DVO
method is applied to discretize the velocity space. The constraint
indicates that during molecule collisions, mass, momentum, and
energy are conserved. The non-conservative error due to numer-
ical quadrature calculation is more apparent when using low order
quadrature rule, such as Newton–Cotes formula. The conservative
properties must be preserved by the numerical methods for dis-
crete kinetic equations. Mieussens [44] had proved that it is pos-
sible to find a discrete Maxwellian satisfying the conservative
properties. The conservative constrains can be written as a

6
Ideal Speedup
5.5 Real Speedup

4.5
Speedup ratio

4
Speedup

3.5

2.5

1.5

1
2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Processors Number of Processors
Fig. 2. Speedup ratio of parallel computation for GKUA with 64–7920 processors for solving the three-dimensional Boltzmann model equation.
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 93

Table 1
Speed-up ratio and corresponding parallel efficiency from 500 to 20,000 processors for the parallel strategy of domain decomposition in discrete velocity space.

No. of CPU 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 4500 6250 7500 10,000 12,500 15,000 20,000
Run time (s) 83.02 42.08 21.06 14.08 10.58 9.61 6.88 5.86 4.73 3.39 3.04 2.36
Ideal speedup 1 2 4 6 8 9 12.5 15 20 25 30 40
Real speedup 1 1.97 3.94 5.90 7.85 8.64 12.07 14.17 17.55 24.49 27.31 35.18
Parallel efficiency 1 0.99 0.99 0.98 0.98 0.96 0.97 0.94 0.88 0.98 0.91 0.88

nonlinear system in quadrature form ⎛ exp (→ α ⋅→

φσ , δ ) − g σ , δ ⎞
⎜ ⎟
⎜ ⎡ exp (→ → ⎤ ⎟
⎛ G σM, δ − gσ, δ ⎞ ⎜ Vx σ ⎣ α ⋅ φ σ , δ ) − g σ , δ ⎦ ⎟
⎜ ⎟ N1 N2
⎜ ⎟
N1 N2 ⎜
V ( G M
− g )
⎟ ∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ ⎜ Vyδ ⎡⎣ exp (→ α ⋅→φσ, δ ) − gσ, δ ⎤⎦ ⎟ = 0.
⎜ x σ σ , δ σ , δ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟
∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ ⎜ ⎟=0 σ =−N1 δ =−N2
Vyδ (G σM, δ − gσ, δ ) ⎜ ⎡⎣ (V x2σ + V y2δ ) − K /2α4 ⎤⎦ exp (→ α ⋅→
φσ , δ ) ⎟
σ =−N1 δ =−N2 ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟
⎜⎜ 2 2 M M ⎟⎟ ⎜ − (V 2 + V 2 ) g − h ⎟
⎝ (V xσ + V yδ )(G σ, δ − gσ, δ ) + (Hσ, δ − hσ, δ ) ⎠ (81) ⎝ xσ yδ σ, δ σ, δ ⎠ (85)

Here, →
α = (α1, α2, α3, α4 )T is computed precisely by solving the
where the G σM, δ and HσM, δ are defined as
non-linear system defined by Eq. (85) with Newton iteration al-
gorithm. The conventional expressions in Eq. (81) provide a good
⎛λ⎞ 2 2 K M
G σM, δ = ρ ⎜ ⎟ e−λ [(Vxσ − U) + (Vyδ − V ) ] and HσM, δ = G σ, δ . initial guess for the iteration process. Usually, one or two iterations
⎝π ⎠ 2λ (82a,b)
would be sufficient since the Newton process converges very ra-
pidly [117]. Similar procedures can be employed to treat the other
Here, λ denotes λ = 1/(2RT ), R is the gas constant, T is the
kinetic models and the details will not be repeated.
temperature, ρ is the density, and K denotes K = (5 − 3γ)/
(γ − 1) + 1 , γ is the ratio of specific heat,
Once the discrete distribution functions gσ , δ and hσ , δ are solved,
6. Numerical results and discussions
one can obtain the moment integrals by using Gauss–Hermite
quadrature or Newton–Cotes quadrature [41,45,47,87] etc., that is To illustrate the validity and accuracy of the present gas-kinetic
high-order compact schemes in solving the rarefied gas dynamical
⎛ gσ, δ ⎞ problems covering various flow regimes, the one-dimensional
⎛ ρ ⎞ ⎜ ⎟
⎜ ρU ⎟ N1 N2 ⎜ Vxσ gσ, δ ⎟ shock-tube problems, internal structures of normal shock wave,
⎜ ⎟= ∑ ∑ Wσ Wδ ⎜ ⎟ two-dimensional flows including an aerofoil and a circular cylin-
⎜ ρV ⎟ ⎜ V g
yδ σ , δ ⎟
⎜ ⎟ σ =−N1 δ =−N2
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ der, and three-dimensional hypersonic flow problems over reu-
⎝ E ⎠ (( V 2
+ V 2
) g + h )/2
⎝ xσ yδ σ, δ σ, δ ⎠ (83) sable sphere–cone satellite shape and spacecraft with various
Knudsen numbers and Mach numbers during re-entering Earth's
where Ws, and Wδ are the weights of the corresponding quad- atmosphere are numerically tested by employing the modified
rature formula. The application of discrete velocity ordinate Gauss-type quadrature techniques and different Boltzmann model
method and the quadrature formulas for calculating the macro- equations, in which the one-dimensional and two-dimensional
scopic quantities after solving the discrete velocity distribution problems are studied by the serial computation, and the three-
functions usually gives accurate results so long as the velocity dimensional complex flows are studied by parallel computing.
range covered is wide enough to include so-called high energy tail Also, the effects of the different schemes and model equations and
of the distribution function. However, this may require a large the flow mechanism covering various flow regimes are revealed.
number of DVO points in each dimension and in multiple di-
mensional problems, and this becomes very computationally ex- 6.1. One-dimensional shock-tube problems with different Knudsen
pensive, particularly for high temperature hypersonic flows. When numbers
not sufficient DVO points used, the discrete Maxwellian G σM, δ and
The first example we considered is the Riemann shock-tube
HσM, δ constructed by using the macroscopic quantities from Eq. (83)
problem at t = 0.1314 . The initial condition is set as
in general may not satisfy the conservative constraints in Eq. (81).
However, the difference is usually small and can be minimized if 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5: ρ = 0.445, T = 13.21, U = 0.698; 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1: ρ = 0.5,
accurate quadrature integration has been used. The conservative T = 1.9, U = 0.0.
properties must be kept by the numerical methods for discrete
kinetic equations. Here, following the construction procedures The second example is Sod's shock-tube problem at t = 0.1912.
proposed in [44,117], the discrete Maxwellian G σM, δ and HσM, δ is The initial condition is set as
defined as 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5: ρ = 10.0, T = 1.667, U = 0.0;
0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1: ρ = 1.0, T = 1.333,
→ K
G σM, δ = exp (→
α ⋅ϕσ, δ ) and HσM, δ = − G σM, δ , U = 0.0.
2α 4 (84a,b)
To validate the reliability of the present compact high-order
T schemes in solving the shock-tube flows with various Knudsen
where the vector → (
α = ln (ρλ /π) − λ (U 2 + V 2), 2λU , 2λV , − λ de- ) numbers from rarefied to continuum flow regimes, Fig. 3 shows
pends on the macroscopic quantities, and the vector of collision
→ T
respectively the density and temperature distributions of Riemann
( )
invariants is ϕ = 1, Vxσ , Vyδ , (V x2σ + V y2δ ) . Then, the conservative shock-tube problem at time t = 0.1314 with three different
constrains Eq. (81) becomes: Knudsen numbers, Kn = 0.0001, Kn = 0.001 and Kn = 0.01,
94 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
computed by the fifth-order WCNS-E-5 scheme with the use of the
Boltzmann–Shakhov model equation. The solid lines denote the
exact Riemann solutions of inviscid gas dynamics, the symbols
(o) denote the computed results of Kn = 0.0001 close to the con-
tinuum flow, the symbols (Δ) denote the computed results of
Kn = 0.001 in the near-continuum flow regime, and the symbols
(◊) denote the computed results for the transition regime with
Kn = 0.01. Here the Prandtl number is Pr = 2/3, and the ratio of
specific heat is 5/3 for a monatomic Maxwell gas. As can be ob-
served, the present result with Kn = 0.0001 is in excellent agree-
ment with the exact Euler solution. As the Knudsen number in-
creases, the profile of shock wave becomes thicker, the expansion
wave wider and the contact discontinuity become smear. When
the Knudsen number is Kn = 0.01, the corresponding structure is
hard to distinguish. In Fig. 4, the results corresponding to Fig. 3 are
shown for the Sod's shock tube problem. Similar conclusion can be
drawn regarding to the three Knudsen numbers calculated. Fig. 5
respectively shows the flow velocity distribution of the Riemann
shock-tube problem at t = 0.1314 with different Knudsen num-
bers, Kn = 0.0001, Kn = 0.001, Kn = 0.01 and Kn = 0.1, computed by
the fifth-order WCENN scheme with the use of the ES–Boltzmann
model equation, where the solid lines are obtained from the Rie-
mann exact solutions. The symbols (o) denote the computed re-
sults related to Kn = 0.0001, the symbols (Δ) denote the computed
results related to Kn = 0.001, the symbols (∇) denote the com-
puted results of Kn = 0.01, and the symbols (◊) denote the com-
puted results related to the high rarefied flow of Kn = 0.1. It is also
shown that excellent agreement is observed between the present
computed results of the continuum flow of Kn = 0.0001 and the
Riemann exact solutions. With the increase of the Knudsen
number, the shock and rarefaction waves get thicker so that the
rarefied flow corresponding to Kn = 0.1 only exists in some dis-
turbance without the shock, contact or rarefaction waves.
Figs. 3–5 qualitatively reveal the non-equilibrium changing
process from various flow regimes that the gas flow becomes from
rarefied flow to continuum along with diminishing the Knudsen
number from Kn = 0.1, Kn = 0.01 to small value of Kn = 0.0001. In
particular, the peculiar non-equilibrium phenomenon of rarefied
gas flow is revealed that the computed flow velocity near the
contact discontinuity surface deviates from the exact solution of
inviscid gas dynamics, the deviation becomes more prominent
with the increase of Knudsen number, and the deviation gradually
Fig. 3. Riemann shock tube solution based on the Shakhov model using the 5th order WCNS-E-5 scheme. (a) Density profiles and (b) temperature.
vanishes when the flow comes into the continuum flow. The cur-
ious and interesting deviation near the contact surface may be
induced from the conservation of the total momentum in the
shock tube. For rarefied flow, the molecular velocity distribution
remarkably deviates from the Maxwellian distribution, and the
shock and rarefaction waves become thick. To conserve the mass
and momentum in the tube for any Knudsen number flow, the
area under the computed velocity profiles should be the same as
the area under the profiles of the exact continuum solutions, any
asymmetric deviation from the continuum solutions in the shock
or the expansion wave profile must necessarily appear as a de-
viation in the region near the contact discontinuity surface. Only
when the Knudsen number becomes small and the gas falls into
the continuum flow regime, the velocity distribution function f
approximately or completely becomes into the Maxwellian equi-
librium distribution, then, the velocity value should be equal in
both sides of the contact discontinuity surface.
To further validate this non-equilibrium phenomenon of the
deviation from the equilibrium value in the flow velocity profiles,
the quantitative comparison between the present computation
and the DSMC results from Prof. M. Macrossan in University of
Queensland has been made in Fig. 6 with the case of Kn = 0.005,
Pr = 2/3, χ = 0.81, ω = 0.5, α = 1, γ = 5/3 at t = 0.13. It is shown
from Fig. 6 that the present computation smoothly and accurately
reveals the non-equilibrium deviation of rarefied gas effect in the
velocity profiles, and the present computation is found in good
agreement with the DSMC results. Here the symbols “O” denote
DSMC result, symbols “▻” denote second-order NND result, “◁”
denote 5th-order WENO and the solid line denotes the 5th-order
WCNS-E-5 result. The results from all the direct solvers agree well
with the DSMC result. Fig. 7 depicts the results with the case of
Kn = 0.0001, Pr = 2/3, χ = 0.81, ω = 0.5, α = 1, γ = 5/3 for Sod's
shock tube problem using NND, WENO and WCNS-E-5, where the
solid line indicates the inviscid Euler solution, symbles “□” denote
second-order NND scheme, “Δ” denote 5th-order WENO and “◊”
denotes the 5th-order compact scheme WCNS-E-5. At Kn = 0.0001,
the solution profile is very close to the exact Euler solution and at
the contact surface there is no velocity over shoot. Under the same
condition, the shock profile of second-order NND is thicker than
that of the 5th-order WENO and WCNS-E-5. These confirm the
higher shock resolution capability of the compact WENO and
WCNS-E-5 schemes as compared with the second-order NND
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 95

Fig. 4. Solution of Sod's shock tube problem based on the Shakhov model using the 5th order WCNS-E-5 scheme. (a) Density profiles and (b) temperature.

Furthermore, the WCNS-E-5 gives better resolution of contact

surface as compared with that by WENO scheme but with larger
CPU time per step.
After making comparison among the NND, WCENN, WENO and
WCNS-E-5 schemes for solving the model Boltzmann equations,
we shall consider computations using NND and WENO schemes in
the following applications unless otherwise is stated.
We also give the results of Riemann shock-tube problem from
the conservative discrete ordinate method (C-DOM) [117], where
the reference length is unity, which same as the length of the tube,
and 101 grid points in physical space was used. The velocity nodes
are uniformly distributed in an interval (  16,16), and two cases of
different number of velocity nodes are considered to illustrating
the effects. The fourth-order Newton–Cotes quadrature formula
and a third-order WENO scheme were used for all cases in here.
The CFL number based on the maximum gas velocity is taken to be
0.9. The Knudsen number is Kn = 0.0001 defined based on the

Fig. 5. Velocity distributions solved by the ES model for Riemann shock-tube

problems with Kn = 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 using the 5th order WCENN scheme.

scheme. From Figs. 3 to 7, it can be concluded that the rarefaction

effect in different flow regimes and the different viscous dissipa-
tion may lead to drastic different flow characteristics from con-
tinuum to transitional regimes. This confirms that the computa-
tion of shock tube flow under different Kn numbers ranging from
rarefied to continuum flow regimes using the present gas-kinetic
schemes of different order of accuracy can possess better robust-
ness and reliability.
In Fig. 8, solutions of Riemann shock tube problem using NND,
WENO and WCNS-E-5 schemes for Shakhov model with
Kn = 0.0001 are presented. Corresponding solutions for Sod's
problem using NND, WENO and WCNS-E-5 schemes and Shakhov
model are given in Fig. 9. Here, Pr = 2/3. It can be easily seen that
at Kn ¼0.0001 which corresponding to continuum regime the
three schemes give results approaching to the gas dynamical Euler
solution. It is also clearly indicated that the fifth-order WENO and Fig. 6. Computed velocity profile of Riemann shock tube problem using NND,
WCNS-E-5 schemes give better resolution of shock and contact WENO and WCNS-E-5 schemes with Kn = 0.005 at t = 0.13. The DSMC result is also
surface as compared with the second-order NND scheme. given for comparison.
96 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
Fig. 7. Computed velocity profile of Sod's shock tube problem using NND, WENO
and WCNS-E-5 schemes with Kn = 0.0001.
mean free path at a reference state ρ = 1.0, T = 1.0. The results of
computed temperature profiles (denoted as symbols) by using the
C-DOM with equal spacing of 41 velocity nodes (DV = 0.8) at time
0.131 are shown in Fig. 10. The solid line denotes the exact solution
of continuum (Euler) limit of gas dynamics. The general agreement
between present kinetic results and classical inviscid gas dynamic
theory is good.
6.2. Normal shock wave structures for different Mach numbers
The inner flows of the steady shock wave structure are com-
puted by the gas-kinetic high-order schemes for different Mach
numbers, and the effects of the computed results are investigated
on different colliding models. Figs. 11 and 12 respectively show the
computed results of the normal shock wave of Ma s = 1.2 and
Ma s = 8 obtained by the NND and WENO schemes in solving the
BGK, Shakhov and ES model equations with the comparison of the
DSMC simulation, where the molecular model uses the variable
Fig. 8. Solution of Riemann shock tube problem using NND, WENO and WCNS-E-5 schemes with Kn = 0.0001. (a) Density and (b) temperature.
soft-sphere (VSS) model. It can be observed that the shock profiles
solved by the ES model are the best steepest in above three-types
of model equations, that of the BGK model takes second place, and
the computed results from the Shakhov model are in good
agreement with the DSMC results. As the shock wave becomes
stronger for the state of Ma s = 8, some qualitative changes differ-
ent from the weak shock waves appear in the strong shock pro-
files, that is, the temperature profiles from the DSMC simulation
and the Shakhov and ES models bring a marked asymmetry and
overshoot phenomena with a small bulge near the downstream of
the shock structure, which indicates non-equilibrium flow. The
non-equilibrium flow phenomena exist in the strong shocks. The
asymmetry and prominent augment are more remarkable for
higher Mach numbers. However, the computed results from the
BGK model cannot display the non-equilibrium bulge phenomena
of shock structure flow. This indicates that the use of BGK model to
simulate the transitional flow regime does have some limitation
and may produce substantial error, and the different values of the
Prandtl number produce distinct effect for the shock structure. The
BGK model gives Pr¼1, and according to the Chapman–Enskog
expansion of the Boltzmann equation, the Pr ¼2/3, the experi-
mental value is close to 2/3. It is also reflected that at lower Mach
number (Ma s = 1.2), DSMC results show large scattering and at
larger Mach number (Ma s = 8) the scattering is hard to detect. This
point out the limitation of the DSMC method for computing low
speed flows. Big statistical fluctuation is produced when the DSMC
method is used to simulate the low speed flows, and it seems to
pollute the useful information.
6.3. Two-dimensional supersonic flows past a circular cylinder in
near-continuum regime
To try out the computation of the schemes with different pre-
cision and different Boltzmann model equations to the two-di-
mensional cylinder flow, the flow state of Ma = 1.8, Kn = 0.001,
Pr = 2/3 and Tw /T0 = 1 is set in the near-continuum flow regime.
In Table 2, the comparisons between the calculated density at
stagnation point and the theoretical value are shown. The com-
puted results obtained by the ES model equation with the fifth-
order WCENN scheme agree with the theoretical value in the best
computation with the least error, however, the computed results
obtained by the Shakhov model equation with the second-order
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 97

Fig. 9. Computed solutions of Sod's shock tube problem using NND, WENO and WCNS-E-5 schemes with Kn = 0.0001. (a) Density and (b) temperature.

NND scheme is in the most deviation from the theoretical value. It
is indicated that the computational precision can be effectively
improved by using the high-order accurate numerical scheme and
appropriate colliding models, and the relative error is at most
under 3% for four cases of NND-Shakhov, NND-ES, WCENN-ES and
WENO-ES in Table 2. The reliability of the present gas-kinetic
high-order algorithm has been further validated in solving the
Boltzmann model equation. Figs. 13 and 14 show the computed
results of pressure, temperature, density and Mach number con-
tours obtained on the basis of the ES model equation respectively
with the NND and WCENN scheme, where the modified Gauss–
Hermite quadrature was used with 16 × 14 of the DVO points in
velocity space and 41 × 46 of the grid division in physical space.
The flow structures including the front bow shock, the stagnation
region and the recompression shock are captured very well. The
superiority of the gas-kinetic high-order compact scheme is em-
bodied in capturing the shock discontinuity and distinguishing
flow details, where the bow wave layer is crisper, the flow field is
finer and the contours are smoother in Fig. 14 solved by the
WCENN scheme relative to Fig. 13 solved by the NND scheme. The
application of conservative DOM with the BGK model to the same
problem is also carried out [117] by a third order WENO scheme
and the results are shown in Fig. 15, where the isothermal wall
boundary condition was used with wall temperature of the cy-
linder TW = 2.08.
6.4. Two-dimensional rarefied flow past a NACA 0012 aerofoil
For the two-dimensional supersonic flow past a NACA 0012
aerofoil, a steady flow state of Ma = 2, Kn = 0.026, Pr = 2/3,
Tw /T0 = 1 and Re∞ = 106 in the near-continuum slip flow regime is
computed by solving the Shakhov and ES model equations with
the NND and WENO schemes, and the computed results and the
experimental data [119] are compared and analyzed. Figs. 16 and
17 show the computed results of density and Mach number

Fig. 10. Solution of the shock-tube problem for Kn = 0.0001. (a) DOM with 61 velocity nodes and (b) conservative DOM with 41 velocity nodes (Courtesy of J.C. Huang).
98 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

Fig. 11. Computed (a) density and (b) temperature profiles of shock structure of Ma s = 1.2 based on the BGK, Shakhov and ES kinetic models using NND scheme and
compared with DSMC result.

the present high-order accurate numerical algorithm can reveal

the flow details of NACA aerofoils well and truly. Fig. 19 shows the
computed distribution of surface pressure coefficients past the
two-dimensional aerofoil obtained by the Shakhov and ES model
equations using the NND and WENO schemes with the comparison
of the DSMC results [120] and the slip-boundary N–S solutions,
[121] in which good agreement can be found among each other.
2
Here the pressure coefficient is given by C p = 2(p − p∞ )/(ρ∞ V∞ ). The
reliability and applicability of the gas-kinetic high-order scheme is
validated in solving the two-dimensional rarefied aerofoil flows.
To analyze the effect of flow structure on kinetic models of
monatomic and diatomic gases, the NACA 0012 airfoil case with
angle of attack α = 10° and Ma = 2, Kn = 0.03 and Re∞ = 106 was
simulated [42] using the BGK model and for Morse model.

6.5. Three-dimensional rarefied hypersonic flows past reusable

sphere–cone satellite

Rarefied hypersonic flows about bodies are of greatest practical

interest. In [122], a detailed DSMC study on the aero-
thermodynamic characteristics of the Brazilian satellite SARA has
Fig. 12. Computed temperature and density profiles of shock structure of Ma s = 8
been presented. Here, in order to further validate the present ki-
based on the BGK, Shakhov and ES models using WENO scheme. A comparison with netic model approach for three-dimensional rarefied hypersonic
DSMC result is also given. flows of spacecraft re-entering Earth's atmosphere, primarily we
compare our results with the DSMC simulation [122]. The shape of
contours obtained by the ES model equation respectively with the the SARA satellite is a sphere–cone shape in its size of
NND and WENO scheme, where the Mach number contours denote R = 0.5035 m and L = 1.41 m and is depicted in Fig. 20 together
“Ma/Ma∞”. To compare the computed results in Figs. 16 and 17 and with the computational domain, grid system layout and the con-
the experimental data, Fig. 18 shows the density and Mach number verging curve.
contours from the experimental data [119] and the DSMC simu- The cases of three-dimensional hypersonic flows around the
lation [120]. It is indicated that the computational and experi- spherical–cone satellite re-entry are simulated using Mach num-
mental results of surface and flow field are in good agreement, and ber 5 and 10, and flying altitudes of 110–70 km by the parallel
computation of 512–1024 processors. Fig. 20(d) shows the con-
Table 2 verging curve of the present method, where the vertical-axis de-
Comparison of stagnation density between the present computed results of
notes the quadratic global residual error of the collision frequency
Ma = 1.8, Kn = 0.001 and the theoretical value from the continuum flow.
and the horizontal abscissa denotes the computing iterative times.
Theoretical density NND-Shakhov NND-ES WCENN-ES WENO-ES It is indicated from Fig. 20(d) that the computation is very stable
and convergent with the fast converging speed. For the cases of
2.8334 2.7514 2.7604 2.8053 2.7943
Relative error (%) 2.90 2.58 0.99 1.38
M∞ = 10, Tw /To = 0.048 with two flight altitudes: (i) H = 75.9 km ,
Kn∞ = 0.004 , Re∞ = 4074.5 and (ii) H = 109.7 km , Kn∞ = 1.618,
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
Fig. 13. Flow fields around a circular cylinder based on ES model using NND scheme (Ma∞ = 1.8, Kn∞ = 0.001, Pr = 2/3). (a) Pressure contours, (b) temperature, (c) ,density,
and (d) Mach number.
Re∞ = 10.2, the spatial grid system of size 51 × 25 × 31 was used
and 65 × 50 × 50 of discrete velocity ordinate points with com-
posite Gauss–Legendre quadrature were employed. The Mach
number contours and the streamlines are respectively shown in
Figs. 21 and 22. For the case of altitude H = 75.9 km and
Kn∞ = 0.004 , the degree of gas rarefaction is low and the flow is in
the near-continuum regime. It can be identified that the bow
shock structure in front of the body is quite distinct and the at-
tached shock, near vacuum flow at the base, boundary layer flow
separation and recirculation zone in the wake region of the sa-
tellite can be observed clearly. As the altitude increases from
H = 75.9 km to H = 109.7 km , the incoming stream Knudsen
number increases from Kn∞ = 0.004 to Kn∞ = 1.618 and the degree
of gas rarefaction becomes higher and the flow is in the transi-
tional to near free molecular flow regime. There exist no clear bow
shock structure in front of the body and no recirculation zone in
the wake region of the body. However, there exists strong flow
disturbance around the body with the quite wide disturbing do-
main which reflects the distinctive difference between rarefied
transitional flow and near-continuum flow characteristics.
A comparison of present calculation of the stagnation line
temperature distribution along the x axis (see Fig. 23) with the
DSMC simulation for the case of H = 105 km , M∞ = 5, Re∞ = 10.19
and Tw /T∞ = 1 from high rarefied flow regime with Kn∞ = 0.74 is
shown in Fig. 23, where the symbols (∇) denote the present
99
computation and the symbols (Ο) denote the DSMC results from
Ref. [122]. The agreement is excellent and the difference between
the two methods is within 0.39–3.26%. Also, Fig. 24 shows the
surface heat flux distribution along the angle of windward surface
far from the stagnation line between the free-stream direction and
the outward direction normal to the wall surface, where the
symbols (◊) denote the present computed results of the GKUA and
the symbols (Ο) denote the DSMC data. It is shown from Fig. 24
that the computed results are in good agreement with the DSMC
data within the relative error of 0.27–8.56%, and the nonlinear
effect of rarefied aerothermodynamics seems to be more distinct
from the computed results of the GKUA.
We further compare and validate our computations with an-
other higher Mach number case for reentry flight conditions:
H = 75.9 km , M∞ = 10 and Tw /T∞ = 1.64 from transitional flow re-
gime with Kn∞ = 0.004 . In Fig. 25, the density and temperature
distributions along the stagnation line are shown together with
the DSMC results [122]. It is observed that the present computa-
tions (broken line-symbol ∇) and the DSMC results (symbol Ο)
agree with each other very well. For this case with wall tem-
perature Tw /T∞ = 1.64 of “cold” surface, there exists a high tem-
perature zone around x/R ¼0.15 region in front of the body. This
example serves the purpose of validation of present GKUA as well
as capability for treating the 3-D hypersonic rarefied flows during
re-entry flight into the atmosphere. It has been indicated from
100 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

Fig. 14. Flow fields around a circular cylinder based on ES model using WCENN scheme (Ma∞ = 1.8, Kn∞ = 0.001, Pr = 2/3). (a) Pressure contours, (b) temperature, (c) density,
and (d) Mach number.

Figs. 6, 11, 12, 19 and 23–25 that the present gas-kinetic unified waives the limitation on cell division and time step less than mean
algorithm possesses good convergence consistency to the DSMC free path and mean collision time, respectively, required by the
simulations in solving the physical processes of rarefied gas flows conventional DSMC method. Particularly for near-continuum
with the coarse spatial grid system of 51  25  31, the GKUA transitional flows around complex spacecrafts with small Knudsen

Fig. 15. (a) Density contours and (b) recirculation zone based on BGK model by C-DOM (M∞ = 1.8, Kn∞ = 0.001) (Courtesy of J.C. Huang).
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 101

Fig. 16. Flow over a two-dimensional aerofoil for Kn = 0.0026 , Ma∞ = 2 solved by ES model equation using NND scheme (a) density contours and (b) Mach number contours.

numbers, the limitation on cells of the DSMC method brings im-
practical challenges in the simulation of real gas flows [55-57].
However, the GKUA has advantages in using a unified Boltzmann
model equation to solve gas flows accurately in the whole flow
regime with arbitrary Knudsen numbers. To exactly discretize the
molecular velocity distribution with non-equilibrium properties
for the high Mach number flow such as M∞ = 10, a large number
65  50  50 of DVO points are used in the computation of hy-
personic flows around complex aircrafts. Because of the require-
ment in the six-dimensional phase space, the GKUA also consumes
considerable computing memory. The advantage of the GKUA can
be complementary to the DSMC method. For flows with fairly big
Knudsen numbers, such as the hypersonic thermochemical non-
equilibrium flows around with fairly big Knudsen numbers, such
as the hypersonic thermochemical non-equilibrium flows around
complex bodies in the reentry rarefied flow regime above 90 km
[55,57,58], the DSMC method has been a powerful approach.
Moreover, the GKUA is still in the developmental stage, and ap-
plications including internal energy excitation as well as thermo-
dynamic non-equilibrium multi-components flows are being ex-
plored [123,124]. Meanwhile, the mature implementation of the
DSMC method is a necessary tool for the validation of new

Fig. 17. Computed contours past two-dimensional aerofoil for Kn = 0.0026 , Ma∞ = 2 solved by ES model equation using WENO scheme.
102 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
Fig. 18. Flow contours past two-dimensional aerofoil for Ma∞ = 2.0 , Kn∞ = 0.0026 . Upper: (a) Density, (b) Mach number from DSMC [120]; Lower: (c) Density, and (d) Mach
number from the experiment [119].
numerical methods, yet they need comparisons and supports.
We also consider reentry flight conditions at higher wall tem-
perature M∞ = 10 and Tw /T∞ = 10 at two different altitudes. The
conditions are: H = 109.7 km , Kn∞ = 1.618, Re∞ = 10.2 and
H = 75.9 km , Kn∞ = 0.004 , Re∞ = 4074.5. Figs. 26 and 27 depict
respectively the temperature and heat transfer contours for these
two flying conditions. At the high rarefied flow regime of
H = 109.7 km , Kn∞ = 1.618, the flow is with higher degree of rar-
efication and the gas flow attaches more to the body and the
highest heat transfer value concentrates near the stagnation re-
gion and a significant amount of such heat transfer covers most of
the body surface. In contrast, at the near-continuum transition
flow regime of H = 75.9 km and Kn∞ = 0.004 , the flow is close to
near-continuum flow and due to the detached bow shock struc-
ture, the largest heat transfer value appears within the strong
disturbance region between the bow shock and the body and a
certain heat transfer gradient exists near the stagnation region of
the front body and only much lower heat transfer exists in other
regions, and the coefficients of heat flux around the satellite body
for the case of H = 109.7 km and Kn∞ = 1.618 are much ten times
higher than that for low altitude case of H = 75.9 km and
Kn∞ = 0.004 . From this example, it is noted that for a re-entry
hypersonic flight vehicle, the effect of rarefaction on heat transfer
to the vehicle surface is very significant due to the distinctive flow
regimes encountered during the whole flight envelope, in parti-
cular for the transitional flow regime, the heat transfer coefficient
on wall surface increases with the increase of flying altitude,
which needs to be specially taken into account in the industrial
design of spacecraft.
6.6. Three-dimensional rarefied hypersonic flows past re-entry
spacecraft
Lastly, the hypersonic rarefied flows past the re-entry module
shape of the spacecraft are computed to reveal the aerodynamics
covering various flow regimes with various Knudsen numbers of
0.001 ≤ Kn ≤ 5 and Mach numbers of 4 ≤ M∞ ≤ 19.7 as examples
of practical application of the high-order gas-kinetic unified
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
Fig. 19. Surface pressure coefficients over NACA 0012 aerofoil for Kn = 0.0026 ,
Ma = 2 by NND-Shakhov, NND-ES and WENO-ES schemes and compared with the
DSMC and slip N–S results.
algorithms, which is run by the parallel multi-processors of 1024–
16,384 processors. Fig. 28 shows the Mach number contours and
velocity vector streamlines for the flow fields in the axisymmetric
plane for the free-stream Mach number M∞ = 4 and two different
conditions (a) Kn = 5, Tw /T0 = 1 and (b) Kn = 0.01, Tw /T0 = 0.25,
where the grid system used is 51 × 19 × 31 in the physical space
Fig. 20. Schematic diagram of a sphere–cone satellite SARA with computational grid and converging curve.
103
and 32 × 16 × 14 of discrete velocity ordinate points with the
modified Gauss–Hermite quadrature are employed. In Fig. 28(a),
for this highly rarefied case of Kn = 5, there is no clear bow shock
and the flow attaches closely to the body and around the body
with the strong wall slip effect and there is no evidence of flow
separation in the back of the body. In Fig. 28(b), for this slip
transitional regime flow of Kn = 0.01, a thick bow shock structure
lies in front of the body, the stream is deflected and flows around
the shoulder of the body expands to reach the base part of the
spacecraft, and the flow separation and vortex wake structures
emerge from the rearward region of the body. The surface pressure
and heat flux distributions in different meridian planes of
φ = 0°, 90°, 180° are shown in Fig. 29 for flow past the spacecraft
with Kn∞ = 0.001, M∞ = 4 and α = 20°. It can be observed that both
the surface pressure and heat flux display similar variations along
different meridian planes. In the φ = 0° meridian plane both
pressure and heat flux increase gradually from the front part of the
body and across the shoulder, and drop sharply when flow en-
tering into the afterbody and expansion regions. The maximum
value of surface pressure appears at the front stagnation point of
the body while the maximum heat flux appears at the shoulder of
the body. In the φ = 90° cross-stream plane and φ = 180° leeward
plane, the maximum values of surface pressure and heat flux ap-
pear at the front end point of the blunt body and both descend
gradually along with the variation of surface curvature, and go
down sharply in the region of the afterbody crossing the shoulder
and inversion cone of the body, then holds the line on the whole
and ultimately drops down to near zero in the leeward region of
the spacecraft, which reflects the peculiarity of wall flow and
aerothermodynamics around the complex spacecraft in near-
continuum flow regime of Kn∞ = 0.001.
0.02
Computing converging history
0.018
Cal. Mach=5
0.016
0.014
0.012
Cal. error
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 18000 21000
Itera. times
104 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

Kn=1.618,Mach=10,H=109.7km

Kn=0.004, Mach=10, H=75.9km

Fig. 21. Mach number contours of hypersonic flow (M∞ = 10 ) over a sphere–cone shaped satellite spacecraft at (a) H = 75.9 km , Kn∞ = 0.004 and (b) H = 109.7 km ,
Kn∞ = 1.618.

To investigate the trim angle of attack of a reentry vehicle in
the high rarefied transitional flow regime, we calculate the flows
past the spacecraft for several angles of attack α = 15°, 20°, 25°, 30°
and 35°, respectively, in the following flow conditions:
H = 112.9 km , Kn = 0.5, M∞ = 5, Re∞ = 15.11, Pr = 0.72, γ = 1.4 and
Tw /T0 = 1, where the grid system used is 51 × 19 × 31 in the phy-
sical space and 40 × 20 × 20 of discrete velocity ordinate points
with the modified Gauss-type quadrature are employed. Fig. 30
(a) illustrates the Mach number contours in the axisymmetric
plane past the body with the flying angle of attack α = 20°. It can
be observed that, due to the highly rarefied reentry flow of
Kn = 0.5, the rarefied effect is more profound and a strong and
wide flow disturbance region is formed around the body, the flow
is completely attached to the surface with the strong wall slip
effect, and the flow structures are quite different from the case of
near-continuum flow of Kn = 0.01 depicted in Fig. 28(b). Fig. 30
(b) presents the pitching moment coefficient Cmg relative to the
center of mass as a function of angle of attack α for the five values
of α mentioned above. The computed trim angle of attack is
αT , Cal = 29.2°. The above computations are consistent with the
theoretical prediction and the flying test, and affirm the capability
of the present unified gas-kinetic flow solver for treating rarefied
gas dynamical phenomena past the spacecraft configuration.
As practical engineering example for spacecraft re-entry, we
applied the GKUA to calculate the case for Kn = 1.3417, M∞ = 19.7,
α = 30°, and Tw /T0 = 0.013, corresponding to flight altitude
H = 120 km and Re∞ = 22.18 by the parallel computation of
16,384 CPU with the distributed memory of 310 MB/CPU , where
the grid system used is 101 × 37 × 61 in the physical space and
130 × 120 × 90 of DVO points with the composite Gauss–Legendre
quadrature are used. In Fig. 31, the various flow field contours
including flow velocity, pressure and temperature are shown in
the symmetric plane of the spacecraft with the angle of attack of
α = 30°. Due to the highly rarefied region of the high velocity re-
entry spacecraft, a large disturbed region of flow with the strong
compressing phenomena is formed in front of the body. From
Fig. 31(a), the flow velocity reduces its magnitude as the stream
approaches the body and become stagnant at the body. As can be

Fig. 22. Streamlines patterns of hypersonic flow (M∞ = 10 ) over a sphere–cone shaped satellite spacecraft at (a) H = 75.9 km , Kn∞ = 0.004 and (b) H = 109.7 km ,
Kn∞ = 1.618.
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 105

12 hypersonic flows, which exhibits the flow characteristic re-

markably different from supersonic flows, and that the hypersonic
11
flow generally expands supersonically beyond the top of the body
Cal. and remains supersonic in most of the wake region. Fig. 32
10
R ef. (b) presents the pitching moment coefficients Cmg relative to the
9 center of mass as a function of angle of attack for the relevant
flight altitude of H = 88.34 km , where the symbols of circle (Ο-
8
broken line) denote the present computed results for α = 15°, 18°,
T/T∞

7 20°, 22°, 26°, and 30° and the delta (Δ-broken line) corresponds to
the experimental data [125] from the hypervelocity low-density
6 wind tunnel. It can be shown from the comparison that the pre-
sent computations are in good agreement with the experiments
5
and the computed trim angle of attack is 25.06° and the experi-
4 mental measurement is about 25.39°.
Finally, to further study the aerothermodynamic characteristics
3 of the re-entry module of spacecraft at high altitude, we include an
engineering example from near-continuum transitional flow re-
2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 gime with flight conditions Kn∞ = 0.0016, M∞ = 12.7,
Re∞ = 12175.4 , Pr = 0.72 and α = 20° at H = 80.9 km . The wall
x/R
temperature is set at Tw /T0 = 0.5435 and Tw /T∞ = 18.0529. In Fig. 33,
Fig. 23. A comparison of stagnation line temperature distribution for flow over the the flow field structures of pressure, Mach number, temperature,
SARA satellite at H = 105 km , M∞ = 5, Tw /T∞ = 1 (circles Ο: DSMC [122]; deltas ∇: and heat flux contours around the re-entry module of the space-
the present computation).
craft are shown. For this near-continuum transitional flow, a de-
tached shock wave with thin and crisp transitional layer is formed
0.9 at a certain distance to the left of the re-entry module with α = 20°
incidence. The hypervelocity flow changes the flow direction and
0.8 Cal. decelerates when across the detached bow shock, around the
Ref. windward front surface, and then starts to accelerate around the
0.7 shoulder with strong supersonic expansion, and a near vacuum
flow exists at the leeward wake region of the body. From Fig. 33(c),
0.6 a region of the high temperature appears between the detached
bow shock and stagnation point, then higher heat flux appears
0.5 within the interior region of the front detached shock layer and
Ch

the boundary layer of the windward surface nearby the stagnation

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 the re-entry module, Fig. 34 shows the streamline structures in the
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
θ(rad)
Fig. 24. A comparison of heat flux distribution along windward surface around the
SARA satellite at H = 105 km , M∞ = 5, Tw /T∞ = 1 (circles Ο: DSMC [122]; deltas ◊:
the present computation).
seen from Fig. 31(b) and (c), high pressure arises at the stagnation
point and there is a high temperature region in front of the body,
and there exists a near vacuum region at the wake region. These
are due to the kinetic energy of the coming stream converting to
internal energy and increasing the temperature there when the
hypervelocity flow approaches the body with the wall tempera-
ture of the spacecraft at Tw = 350 K and Tw /T∞ = 1.002.
To compare our computational approach with low density
wind-tunnel experimental results from CARDC [125] to determine
the trim angle of attack of the reentry flight midway transitional
regime for the re-entry module of spacecraft at flight conditions
Kn∞ = 0.0063, M∞ = 15.587, Re∞ = 3729.15, Tw /T0 = 0.5435 and
Pr = 0.72 at H = 88.34 km , Fig. 32(a) illustrates the Mach number
contours in the symmetrical plane past the body with the flying
angle of attack 26°. It can be observed from Fig. 32(a) that no re-
compression shock exists in the back of the body for the
point due to strong temperature variation and gradient in these
two regions, and only small heat flux values appear in other re-
gions. This indicates that when a re-entry vehicle reenters into the
near-continuum transitional flow regime, due to the occurrence of
the detached bow shock, the kinetic energy transforms into heat
flux appearing at these regions. Thus, the thermal protection de-
sign can be just stressed on these regions. In order to reveal the
whole detailed process of hypersonic flow around the surface of
flow and limiting surface streamlines around the re-entry module
of spacecraft. From the streamline structures shown in Fig. 34(a),
the flow from far ahead strides across the detached shock, de-
celerates, changes direction with split-flow, and compresses and
gathers around the surface, then passes around the shoulder with
the rapid expansion toward the wake flow region. The flows
around the lower and upper shoulders show similar trend except
that the flow around the lower shoulder is compressed more as
compared with that at the upper shoulder due to the angle of
attack. There exists certain rarefied gas effect such that the
streamlines move around the fore body in an attached manner and
only exhibits a small degree of recirculation flow in the near va-
cuum wake region. And the streamline strings become convergent
which means the flow gradient, temperature and heat flux in-
crease, and the changing tendency of the streamline structures
from Fig. 34(a) coincides with that of the flow field structure in
Fig. 33. It can be observed from the surface streamlines shown in
Fig. 34(b) and (c) that the decelerated gas flows and logs to the
surface nearby the front stagnation point, spread to flow down and
back from the stagnation point region with the high pressure to
the low-pressure backside, and then the accordant junction forms
limiting streamline ring in the leeward surface region. As it is seen
from Fig. 34, the limiting streamline ring falls off and forms the
106 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

13 32
30
12 Ref.
Cal. 28
11 Ref. 26 Cal.
10 24
9 22
20
8
18

T/T∞
7
ρ/ρ∞

16
6 14
5 12
4 10
8
3
6
2
4
1 2
0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x/R x/R
Fig. 25. A comparison of stagnation line distribution around the SARA satellite shape at H = 75.9 km , M∞ = 10 , Tw /T∞ = 1.64 . (circles Ο: result from Ref. [116]; deltas ∇: the
present computation).

Temperature
Kn=1.618,Mach=10,H=109.7km Temperature
Kn=0.004,Mach=10,H=75.9km

Fig. 26. Temperature distribution contours at two altitudes for the case of M∞ = 10 and Tw /T∞ = 10 . (a) H = 109.7 km , Kn∞ = 1.618 and (b) H = 75.9 km , Kn∞ = 0.004 .

0.41
0.39 0.031
0.37 0.029
0.35 0.027
0.33 0.025
0.31 0.023
0.29 0.021
0.27 0.019
0.25 0.017
0.23 0.015
0.21 0.013
0.19 0.011
0.009
0.17
0.007
0.15
0.005
0.13 0.003
0.11 0.001
0.09
0.07
0.05
0.03
0.01

Fig. 27. Heat flux distribution at two flying altitudes for the case of M∞ = 10 and Tw /T∞ = 10 . (a) H = 109.7 km , Kn∞ = 1.618 and (b) H = 75.9 km , Kn∞ = 0.004 .
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113 107

SZ--Spacecraft

Fig. 28. Flow fields around a spacecraft shape in the symmetric plane at M∞ = 4 for two different Knudsen numbers. (a) Kn = 5 and (b) Kn = 0.01.

1 Kn=0.001,Mach=4,alpha=20(deg),Tw/T0=0.25 2.5 Kn=0.001,Mach=4,alpha=20(deg),Tw/T0=0.25

Phi=0 (deg)
0.9 Phi=0 (deg)
Phi=90 (deg)
Phi=90 (deg)
0.8 2 Phi=180(deg)
Phi=180(deg)
0.7
P/(ron00*V00**2)

q/(ron00*a00**3)

0.6 1.5

0.5

0.4 1

0.3

0.2 0.5

0.1

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
Surface/Dref Surface/Dref
Fig. 29. Flow distribution along the body surface in different meridian planes of φ = 0°, 90°, 180° past spacecraft shape for Kn∞ = 0.001, M∞ = 4 and α = 20°.

0.05

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01

-0.01

-0.02

-0.03
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40

Fig. 30. High rarefied reentry flow past a spacecraft configuration (Kn = 0.5, M∞ = 5, H = 112.9 km ). (a) Mach number contours (α = 20°) and (b) pitching moment coefficient
vs. α .
108 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

1
0.
3
0.

4.5
5
0.

0.5

7.9
0.4
0.7

14.8
0.3
7

21.7
1.0
0.9

0.1

52.7
42.3
0.86 5

1.4
0.9

28.6
63.0
1.8

4.5
0.72
0.3 .53

2.5
0.1 3
0

8
3.
4
0.03

Fig. 31. Flow field contours in the symmetrical plane of a re-entry spacecraft (Kn = 1.3417, M∞ = 19.7, H = 120 km , α = 30°). (a) Flow velocity, (b) pressure, and (c)
temperature.

critical vortex structure from the rear stagnation surface in a more
rarefied flow environment, then flows to the far wake behind. In
order to analyze the varying characteristics of surface force and
heat around the re-entry module with large bluntness, the con-
tours nephogram of pressure and heat flux distribution around the
re-entry module are plotted in Fig. 35. The calculation shows that
the larger values of both pressure and heat flux mainly concentrate
in the windward surface of the large bluntness. For the flow
around the surface of the re-entry module with α = 20°, pressure
maximum occurs at the stagnation point. This is because the ve-
locity of the gas flow in the stagnation point reduces to zero and
the pressure must be the highest. In the high pressure zone, the
airflow near attachment surface flows to the leeward area with
low pressure, which explains the surface streamline structure in
Fig. 34, especially verifies the streamline characters that the flow
lands on the surface of the re-entry module from the stagnation
point and moves along the surface in all directions shown in
Fig. 34(b). However, the maximum value of the heat flux appears
at the shoulder turning corner of the windward surface φ = 0°.
This is because the heat flux characterizes and reflects the transfer
of the energy flux, and the flow through the shoulder surface with
the maximum curvature changes from the compressing flow to the
rapid expanding flow, and then the huge flow gradient is induced,
especially producing large rate of changes of temperature and
energy flux. The three-dimensional flow around a hypersonic
rarefied reentry module indeed contains complex flow physics and
the capability to simulate the complete flow field accurately is of
crucial importance to predict the aerodynamic characteristics. The
computational results provide the scientific basis that spacecraft
reentry design with large blunt body can satisfy to disperse the
endured force and heat in different position of the large blunt
body, and the thermal protection design needs to be especially
strengthened in the shoulder parts of the re-entry module.
Figs. 31–35 intuitively reproduce the essential flow features during
the reentry module re-entering from outer space into Earth's at-
mosphere, which have provided important theoretical and applied
insights in guiding the hypersonic reentry of the spacecraft to
return to earth safely and smoothly.
In summary, from the above simulations of wide range of re-
gimes of hypersonic reentry flows, covering near continuum, slip,

Fig. 32. Hypersonic near-continuum transitional flow past a re-entry spacecraft (Kn∞ = 0.0063,M∞ = 15.587, H = 88.34 km ). (a) Mach number contours with α = 26° and (b)
pitching moment coefficient vs. α .
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
Fig. 33. Flow field structures around the reentry module of spacecraft during re-entering flight (Kn∞ = 0.0016 , M∞ = 12.7, H = 80.9 km , α = 20°). (a) Pressure, (b) Mach
number, (c) temperature, and (d) heat flux.
rarefied transitional and near free molecular flow regimes, around
practical spacecraft configurations such as the Brazilian SARA sa-
tellite and the re-entry module of spacecraft, and from the good
agreement found among the present computations, the DSMC, the
related continuum Navier–Stokes solutions and the experimental
results, it is fair to conclude that equipped with massively parallel
computing, the present computational approach can provide an
enabling engineering analysis and design tool for the study of 3-D
complex hypersonic rarefied aerothermodynamic characteristics
of spacecraft during reentry flight. In this work, the selection of
the DVO points and the range of the discretized velocity space for
each flow problem is still somewhat problem-dependent. The
optimal way of selecting the number of discrete velocity ordinate
points as well as the size of velocity integration domain remains a
challenging issue. The conservative DOM procedure employed
here assists in part to reduce the size and the number of velocity
points. The procedure devised by Wu et al. [31] to ensure con-
servations of momentum and energy using Lagrangian multipliers
is an interesting and promising one.
109
7. Concluding remarks
The high-order gas-kinetic unified schemes for solving the ki-
netic Boltzmann model equations including Bhatnagar–Gross–
Krook, Shakhov, Ellipsoidal Statistical and Morse model equations
are presented by applying the second-order NND, fifth-order
WCENN, WENO and WCNS-E-5 schemes on the basis of the NND
and ENN to simulate and describe the complex gas flows covering
the whole range of flow regimes. Computations of one-dimen-
sional shock-tube flow, normal shock inner flow, and two-di-
mensional airfoil and cylinder flows have been carried out to il-
lustrate the implementation of the methods. The multi-processing
parallel strategy of domain decomposition in the discrete velocity
space is also developed and tested within 20,000 CPUs to solve
three-dimensional Boltzmann model equations. Extensive valida-
tions of the present methods and comparisons with theoretical,
experimental, DSMC, slip N–S and other results have been carried
out and very good agreement can be obtained. With the estab-
lished Boltzmann model equation computational framework
110 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113

Fig. 34. Surface streamline structure around the reentry module of spacecraft during re-entering flight (Kn∞ = 0.0016 , M∞ = 12.7, H = 80.9 km , α = 20°). (a) Streamline
structure, (b) upwind surface, (c) leeward surface, and (d) wake streamline.

Fig. 35. Surface pressure and heat flux distribution around the reentry module of spacecraft during re-entering flight (Kn∞ = 0.0016 , M∞ = 12.7, H = 80.9 km ,α = 20°).
 Z.-H. Li et al. / Progress in Aerospace Sciences 74 (2015) 81–113
including both the high-order accuracy and parallel efficiency,
practical engineering simulations of three-dimensional re-entry
hypersonic rarefied flows past a reusable sphere–cone satellite and
the re-entry module of the spacecraft have been illustrated. Some
concluding remarks can be drawn and listed as follows:
1. The gas flows with different Knudsen numbers and Mach
numbers are studied, and the computed results are compared
with the related theoretical exact solutions, DSMC results, slip
N–S solutions and experimental data. It is validated that the
gas-kinetic high-order compact schemes have strong adapt-
ability and reliability in simulating the gas flow problems
covering various flow regimes.
2. The BGK model is the simplest collision model of the Boltz-
mann equation, however, it renders Pr ¼1 for the monatomic
gas flows, while Pr¼2/3 should be the correct value. Conse-
quently, the improved modification of the BGK model is nee-
ded. The Shakhov model exactly approaches the Boltzmann
collision model with third-order Hermite polynomials and
embodies the real physical phenomena well. It is validated that
the computed profiles of shock structures for different Mach
numbers solved by the Shakhov model are in the best agree-
ment with the DSMC results, however, it is difficult for the
Shakhov model to keep the positivity of the velocity distribu-
tion function all along. The ES model, which spreading the
Maxwellian distribution into Gaussian one, is deduced on the
basis of the most probable statistical principle, which allows
the viscosity and the thermal conductivity to be produced si-
multaneously. The positivity of the velocity distribution func-
tion can be kept in the ES model all the time. However, the
physical effect of ES model is not as clear as the Shakhov model
so that the error of the computed profiles of shock waves
solved by the ES model is slightly larger than that of the Sha-
khov model as compared with the DSMC results. For the si-
mulation of near-equilibrium flow, the precision of the ES
model is slightly higher or as accurate as that of Shakhov
model, however, the computational load of the ES model is
higher. Also, the ES model is less suitable for solving the flow
problems with strong non-equilibrium flow phenomena.
3. Under the same precision of the discrete velocity ordinate
method, the WCNS-E-5 and WCENN schemes exhibit the best
resolution, the WENO scheme is in the second, and the NND
scheme can achieve good results when fine grid system is used.
4. As the accuracy and robustness of the present high-order gas-
kinetic unified algorithm on the basis of the Boltzmann model
equation roots in both the precision of the high-order spatial
difference schemes in the physical space and the precision of
the discrete velocity ordinate method in the velocity space, it
cannot be pursued blindly just to consider the accuracy of the
high-order spatial difference numerical schemes alone without
considering the accuracy of the discrete velocity ordinate
method simultaneously. To achieve the anticipated numerical
precision, it also needs to investigate and enhance the precision
of the selection of the DVO points and the discrete velocity
numerical quadrature methods. This is crucial for large scale
three-dimensional simulation.
5. Although the high-order schemes improve the computational
precision, the computed load will increase with the improve-
ment of the scheme precision. In the present computation, the
NND and WENO schemes use the same number of spatial grids
and the WCNND, WCENN and WCNS-E-5 schemes use half of
the grid number of the NND and WENO schemes; except for
the NND scheme, the third-order or fourth-order Runge-Kutta
method are respectively adopted in time integration corre-
sponding to the third or higher order spatial discretization of
the convective terms. It is shown from the computing practice
111
for obtaining converged solution, the CPU time spent by the
NND scheme is the least, the WENO scheme in the next place,
the WCENN scheme in the third place, and that by the WCNS-
E-5 scheme is the longest. And the computational load and CPU
time required are even more if the Runge-Kutta method for the
colliding relaxation term is employed in the higher-order
schemes. However, the computed results with higher order
accuracy can be obtained by the WCENN and WCNS-E-5
schemes with less grids. The present gas-kinetic numerical al-
gorithm in solving the Boltzmann model equations can be
viewed as employing high-order accurate numerical schemes
with the considerable cost of computing time, especially for
3-D hypersonic rarefied flows. If the computer memory avail-
able to one is restricted then the high-order schemes are nee-
ded to meet the simulation objective to resolve sufficiently
accurate flow fields. That is the advantage of the high-order
compact schemes.
6. After studying and comparing the properties of different gas-
kinetic model equations and the effect of finite-difference
schemes with different order of accuracy, we have investigated
the strategies of massively parallel implementation of the
present high-order Gas-Kinetic Unified Algorithm and im-
provement of computational efficiency in supercomputer sys-
tems. The parallel speed-up goes up as near-linearity with the
increase of the number of CPUs from 64 to 20,000, and at least
88% parallel efficiency has been achieved for small, moderate
and large scale parallel computing. With all the essential ele-
ments of high-order compact numerical methods and the
massively parallel capabilities combined, the present class of
high-order GKUAs provides an engineering design and analysis
tool for treating practical hypersonic rarefied flows during
spacecraft re-entry. This capability has contributed extensively
to many three-dimensional hypersonic rarefied flow simula-
tions encountered in practical spacecraft programs. Some of the
typical results are also included which have been calculated in
several largest possible computing facilities in China.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research
and Development Program (2014CB744100) and the National
Nature Science Foundation of China under Grant nos. 91016027,
91130018 and 11325212. Some parallel computing resources are
provided by the National Supercomputer Center in Jinan and the
National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, respectively. The au-
thors would like to thank Prof. Juan-Chen Huang from the National
Taiwan Ocean University for helpful support in describing the
Conservation of Discrete Ordinate Method. We also thank Prof.
Wei Shyy of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and
Prof. Z.J. Wang of Kansas University for their many constructive
suggestions during the preparation of this manuscript.
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