Poiseuille gas flow in the transition regime I. Formulation of the general theory

Abstract

A theoretical treatment is given of gas flow along a tube of circular cross-section for arbitrary ratio of intermolecular collision mean free path to tube radius. A general solution is obtained of the Boltzmann equation which is valid for any intermolecular collision operator. The spatial variation of this solution is exhibited explicitly and its velocity dependence is given in terms of the solution of certain integral equations.