Heat transfer through rarefied gases between coaxial cylindrical surfaces with arbitrary temperature difference

The problem of nonlinear heat transfer through a rarefied gas confined between concentric cylinders maintained at different temperatures is investigated. The formulation is based on the nonlinear Shakhov kinetic model subject to Cercignani–Lampis boundary conditions, while molecular interaction is modelled by the inverse power law. The detailed behaviour of the radial heat flow, density, temperature and pressure distributions in terms of the normalized temperature difference between the cylindrical walls, the ratio of the two cylindrical radii and the gas rarefaction is investigated and certain interesting characteristics are revealed. The study includes small, moderate and large temperature differences and various radius ratios and is extended in the whole range of the Knudsen number. It is verified that the type of molecular interaction plays an important role when the heat transfer configuration becomes strongly nonlinear, while the influence of the gas–surface scattering law has similar effects both in linear and nonlinear conditions. By comparing linear and nonlinear results corresponding to the same conditions, it is concluded that linearized analysis can capture the correct behaviour of the heat flow configuration not only for infinitesimally small but also for finite temperature differences and that its range of applicability is wider than expected.