Collected Works of H. S. Tsien (1938-1956)

Propagation of Plane Sound Waves in Rarefied Gases

Hsue-shen Tsien and Richard Schamberg

(California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California)

If the density of gas is very small, the conventional Navier-Stokes equations are not accurate enough. The present investigation includes the effect of the so-called third approximation to the solution of Boltzmann-Maxwell equation as obtained by D. Burnett. The results of this more accurate calculation show that, even under extreme conditions, the velocity of propagation deviates from its usual value by only 2 percent.

1. Introduction

The problem of the propagation of plane sound waves in a viscous fluid was treated as early as 1845 by G. G. Stokes, who investigated the effect of viscous action ...