The kinetic Shakhov-Enskog model for non-equilibrium flow of dense gases

When the average intermolecular distance is comparable to the size of gas molecules, the Boltzmann equation, based on the dilute gas assumption, becomes invalid. The Enskog equation was developed to account for this finite size effect that makes the collision non-local and increases the collision frequency. However, it is time-consuming to solve the Enskog equation due to its complicated structure of collision operator and high dimensionality. In this work, on the basis of the Shakhov model, a gas kinetic model is proposed to simplify the Enskog equation for non-ideal monatomic dense gases. The accuracy of the proposed Shakhov-Enskog model is assessed by comparing its solutions of the normal shock wave structures with the results of the Enskog equation obtained by the fast spectral method. It is shown that the Shakhov-Enskog model is able to describe non-equilibrium flow of dense gases, when the maximum local mean free path of gas molecules is still greater than the size of a molecular diameter. The accuracy and efficiency of the present model enable simulations of non-equilibrium flow of dense gases for practical applications.