Second-order approximations for the transport properties of dilute polyatomic gases

Abstract

Explicit expressions for the bulk viscosity, thermal conductivity and shear viscosity of a dilute polyatomic gas are derived. The results are correct to a second-order approximation within the framework of the semi-classical Wang Chang and Uhlenbeck kinetic theory. The effective cross-sections which determine the transport coefficients have been reduced to three-fold collision integrals over the inelastic differential scattering cross-section for binary molecular encounters.