The interaction of a transient exhaust plume with a rarefied atmosphere

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Abstract
The interaction of a gas cloud of specified mass, momentum and energy with an atmosphere in uniform motion is studied using the kinetic theory of gases. The Krook collision model is used to obtain analytically interpretable and numerically tractable results describing the spatial and temporal evolution of the cloud. The cloud originates from a continuum source and expands to a free molecular flow. It then begins to collide with the atmosphere, and is gradually transformed into a continuum flow diffusing through the atmosphere while being convected by the uniform motion.