Numerical hydrodynamics from gas-kinetic theory (Q1316031)

We present a new hydrodynamics code, based on the solution of the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model of the Boltzmann equation. The basic idea is to construct an approximate, locally valid solution of a set of nonlinear integral equations for the equilibrium Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, and use this solution to solve the BGK equation for the velocity distribution function at cell walls. Our code appears to behave as well as current high-order difference schemes at shocks and to give better results for rarefaction waves.