Mean free path

About: Mean free path is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4412 publications have been published within this topic receiving 114418 citations.

Scaling theory of conduction through a normal-superconductor microbridge.

Abstract: The length dependence of the resistance of a disordered normal-metal wire attached to a superconductor is computed. The scaling of the transmission eigenvalue distribution with length is obtained exactly in the metallic limit by a transformation onto the isobaric flow of a two-dimensional ideal fluid. The resistance has a minimum for lengths near l/\ensuremath{\Gamma}, with l the mean free path and \ensuremath{\Gamma} the transmittance of the superconductor interface.

Kinetic Theory of Slightly Strong Evaporation and Condensation–Hydrodynamic Equation and Slip Boundary Condition for Finite Reynolds Number–

Abstract: The asymptotic behavior for small mean free path of steady flow of a gas in contact with its condensed phase of arbitrary shape is investigated on the basis of kinetic theory. The hydrodynamic equations for the macroscopic quantities, the velocity, temperature, and pressure, of the gas and their boundary conditions on the interface between the gas and its condensed phase are derived up to the order of the Knudsen number squared, together with the Knudsen-layer correction near the interface. In the analysis, the perturbations from a uniform equilibrium state are assumed to be small, but their nonlinear effects are taken into account correctly so that the results obtained can be applied when the Reynolds number of the system is finite. This is an extension of the corresponding linearized theory by the same authors, which is valid only for very small Reynolds number.

Kinetic effects in dynamic wetting

Abstract: The maximum speed at which a liquid can wet a solid is limited by the need to displace gas lubrication films in front of the moving contact line. The characteristic height of these films is often comparable to the mean free path in the gas so that hydrodynamic models do not adequately describe the flow physics. This Letter develops a model which incorporates kinetic effects in the gas, via the Boltzmann equation, and can predict experimentally observed increases in the maximum speed of wetting when (a) the liquid's viscosity is varied, (b) the ambient gas pressure is reduced, or (c) the meniscus is confined.