Abstract
Numerical and experimental investigations are peformed for the rarefied gas flows in pumping channels of a helical-type drag pump. Modern turbomolecular pumps include a drag stage in the discharge side, operating roughly in $10^{-2}{\sim}10Torr$. The flow occurring in the pumping channel develops from the molecular transition to slip flow traveling downstream. Two different numerical methods are used in this analysis: the first one is a continuum approach in solving the Navier-Stokes equations with slip boundary conditions, and the second one is a stochastic particle approach through the use of the direct simulation Monte Carlo(DSMC) method. The flow in a pumping channel is three-dimensional(3D), and the main difficulty in modeling a 3D case comes from the rotating frame of reference. Thus, trajectories of particles are no longer straight lines. In the Present DSMC method, trajectories of particles are calculated by integrating a system of differential equations including the Coriolis and centrifugal forces. Our study is the first instance to analyze the rarefied gas flows in rotating frame in the presence of noninertial effects.
