A numerical solution of the linear Boltzmann equation using cubic B-splines

Abstract

A numerical method using cubic B-splines is presented for solving the linear Boltzmann equation. The collision kernel for the system is chosen as the Wigner-Wilkins kernel. A total of three different representations for the distribution function are presented. Eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the collision matrix are obtained for various mass ratios and compared with known values. Distribution functions, along with first and second moments, are evaluated for different mass and temperature ratios. Overall it is shown that the method is accurate and well behaved. In particular, moments can be predicted with very few points if the representation is chosen well. This method produces sparse matrices, can be easily generalized to higher dimensions, and can be cast into efficient parallel algorithms.