Viscomagnetic Heat Flux Experiments as a Test of Gas Kinetic Theory in the Burnett Regime

Abstract

In a rarefied polyatomic gas streaming through a rectangular channel, an external magnetic field produces a heat flux perpendicular to the flow direction. Experiments on this “viscom agnetic heat flux” have been performed for CO, N2, CH4 and HD at room temperature, with different orientations of the magnetic field. Such measurements enable one to separate the boundary layer contribution from the purely bulk contribution by means of the theory recently developed by Vestner. Very good agreement is found between the experimentally determined bulk contribution and the theoretical Burnett value for CO, N2 and CH4 , yet the behavior of HD is found to be anomalous.