Radiometric force on a 0.12 m circular vane is studied experimentally and numerically over a wide range of pressures that cover the flow regimes from near free molecular to near continuum. In the experiment, the vane is resistively heated to about 419 K on one side and 394 K on the other side, and immersed in a rarefied argon gas. The radiometric force is then measured on a nano-Newton thrust stand in a 3 m vacuum chamber and compared with the present numerical predictions and analytical predictions proposed by various authors. The computational modelling is conducted with a kinetic approach based on the solution of ellipsoidal statistical Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (ES-BGK) equation. Numerical modelling showed the importance of regions with elevated pressure observed near the edges of the vane for the radiometric force production. A simple empirical expression is proposed for the radiometric force as a function of pressure that is found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The shear force on the lateral side of the vane was found to decrease the total radiometric force.

The radiometric force on several configurations of heated plates placed in a stagnant gas is examined experimentally, with a high-resolution thrust stand, and numerically using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method and a discrete ordinate solution of a model kinetic equation. A wide range of pressures from 0.006 to 6 Pa was examined, corresponding to Knudsen numbers from 20 to 0.02, in argon and helium test gases. The radiometric force, important in a number of emerging micro- and nanoscale applications, is shown to be mostly area dependent in the transitional regime where it reaches its maximum at Kn approximately 0.1.

Nonresonant interaction of an optical lattice created by two counterpropagating laser fields with gas molecules is studied with the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. Energy and momentum deposition from lattice to gas in the collision regime are examined and the ability of a lattice to increase gas temperature to thousands of kelvins in a single pulse is shown.

Abstract. An experimental and numerical effort was undertaken to assess the effects of a cold gas (T o =300K) nozzle plume impinging on a simulated spacecraft surface. The nozzle flow impingement is investigated experimentally using a nano-Newton resolution force balance and numerically using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) numerical technique. The Reynolds number range investigated in this study is from 0.5 to approximately 900 using helium and nitrogen propellants. The thrust produced by the nozzle was first assessed on a force balance to provide a baseline case. Subsequently, an aluminum plate was attached to the same force balance at various angles from 0• (parallel to the plume flow) to 10• . For low Reynolds number helium flow, a 16.5% decrease in thrust was measured for the plate at 0 • relative to the free plume expansion case. For low Reynolds number nitrogen flow, the difference was found to be 12%. The thrust degradation was found to decrease at higher Reynolds numbers and larger plate angles. The roughness of the simulated spacecraft surface will be a variable in the testing to be performed for this manuscript.