Compressible Gas Flow Inside a Two Dimensional Uniform Microchannel

Abstract

This paper analyzes a compressible gas flow through a microchannel, and reports a complete set of first-order analytical solutions. This work represents an extension of the previous work of Arkilic on compressible flows through a microchannel. First, by comparing the magnitudes of different forces in the compressible gas flow, we obtain proper estimations for the Reynolds and Mach numbers at the channel exit. Second, based on these estimations, we obtain asymptotic analytical solutions of velocities, pressure, and temperature distributions of compressible gas flow inside the microchannel with a relaxation of the isothermal assumption, which was previously used by many researchers. Numerical simulations of compressible flows through microchannels with a compressible Navier-Stokes equation solver are performed and combined with velocity slip and temperature jump wall boundary conditions. The numerical simulation results validate the analytical results from this study.