Book Description

This report is concerned with special problems which arise in connection with calculations of the transport properties of partially ionized monatomic gases. The most serious problem concerns the lack of agreement of the usual thermal conductivity expression in the limit of fullionization with other results derived explicitly for this case. It is shown that satisfactory agreement can be obtained in this limit if one uses the third rather than the second approximation in the Chapman-Enskog theory. Expressions for the fourth and lower approximations to the thermal conductivity, the thermal diffusion coefficient, and the ordinary diffusion coefficient of multicomponent gases are derived. The viscosity of this mixture is considered to the second approximation. It is shown that the thermal diffusion plays a very important role in an ionized gas. Neglect of this effect can cause the thermal conductivity to be seriously overestimated. An expression is presented which approximates the effect of the thermal diffusion on the thermal conductivity. The charged particle cross-section is considered with the screened Coulomb potential.