Kinetic theory of binary gas mixtures with large mass disparity

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Abstract
The Boltzmann equations for a binary mixture of gases are considered in the asymptotic limit when their molecular weight ratio and the light gas Knudsen number are small quantities. A first mass-ratio expansion reduces the cross-collision operator of the light gas Boltzmann equation to a Lorentz form, uncoupling its kinetic behavior from that of the heavy gas. The light gas distribution function is then determined to first order in the Knudsen number, independently of the degree of nonequilibrium characterizing the heavy gas, whose influence is felt only through its hydrodynamic quantities. All transport coefficients arising are determined variationally for arbitrary interaction potentials using Sonine polynomial expansions as trial functions. A remarkable feature of this analysis is that it yields binary transport information (i.e., diffusion and thermal diffusion coefficients) from considering only the Boltzmann equation for the light gas. A second mass expansion reduces the cross-collision operator of the heavy gas equation to a Fokker–Planck form. The corresponding coefficients involve integrals over the light gas distribution function determined previously and are evaluated explicitly in terms of the hydrodynamic quantities and transport coefficients of the light gas. The heavy gas distribution function can be determined by solving a Fokker–Planck equation at dilutions large enough to make heavy–heavy collisions negligible, or by a new Knudsen number expansion when the molar fraction of the heavy gas is of order 1. In this latter case, the heavy gas kinetic behavior is independent of the light gas, being characterized by the same transport coefficients of the pure heavy gas. The problem is then reduced to a set of two-fluid hydrodynamic equations.