DIRECT SIMULATION MONTE CARLO: Recent Advances and Applications¹

The principles of and procedures for implementing direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) are described. Guidelines to inherent and external errors common in DSMC applications are provided. Three applications of DSMC to transitional and nonequilibrium flows are considered: rarefied atmospheric flows, growth of thin films, and microsystems. Selected new, potentially important advances in DSMC capabilities are described: Lagrangian DSMC, optimization on parallel computers, and hybrid algorithms for computations in mixed flow regimes. Finally, the limitations of current computer technology for using DSMC to compute low-speed, high–Knudsen-number flows are outlined as future challenges.