Numerical simulation of moving rigid bodies in rarefied gases

In this paper we present a numerical scheme to simulate a moving rigid body with arbitrary shape suspended in a rarefied gas. The rarefied gas is simulated by solving the Boltzmann equation using a DSMC particle method. The motion of the rigid body is governed by the Newton-Euler equations, where the force and the torque on the rigid body is computed from the momentum transfer of the gas molecules colliding with the body. On the other hand, the motion of the rigid body influences the gas flow in its surroundings. We validate the numerical results by testing the Einstein relation for Brownian motion of the suspended particle. The translational as well as the rotational degrees of freedom are taken into account. It is shown that the numerically computed translational and rotational diffusion coefficients converge to the theoretical values.