Application highlights of the DSMC Analysis Code (DAC) software for simulating rarefied flows

The DSMC Analysis Code (DAC) software represents the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) state-of-the-art implementation of the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method of Bird for simulating three-dimensional flows. It is utilized by NASA, as well as other organizations from the government, commercial and academic sectors to simulate rarefied gas dynamic environments with complex geometric or flowfield characteristics. The fundamentals of the DSMC method are presented to provide the necessary groundwork for a discussion of the important features of the DAC software. The accuracy of the implementation is demonstrated through a collection of previously documented results, where simulations performed using the DAC software are compared to other codes as well as actual flight derived data. A compilation of diverse applications is used to highlight the software's underlying flexibility and the significance of this capability to support important NASA missions.