Thermal Conductivity of Moderately Dense Gases

Abstract

A theory previously proposed for the viscosity of moderately dense gases is applied to a calculation of the coefficient b_λ in the virial expansion in density of the thermal conductivity, λ=λ₀+b_λρ+···. The contribution of three‐body collisions to b_λ is approximated by two‐body collisions between a monomer and a dimer, the latter being defined to include bound, metastable, and orbiting pairs. Collisional transfer in binary collisions is not taken into account. The calculation yields the temperature dependence of b_λ as proportional to T⁻¹ at high T but nearly invariant with T at moderate reduced temperatures; both trends are essentially consistent with experiment. Comparisons are made with several other theories.