The flow of a low density, high speed gas cannot be adequately described by the continuum Navier-Stokes equations; the particultae nature of the gas must be considered. The standard computational method for calculating the flow of a sufficiently rarefied gas is the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. There is a regime of intermediate rarefaction between where the Navier-Stokes equations become invalid and where it is computationally feasible to use direct simulation of molecular motions in the flow using DSMC.
This project is concerned with making the DSMC method more computaionally efficient (using modified procedures at higher densities) so that the "computational gap" between continuum and rarefied gas flow can be closed.