Free Molecule Flow Through a Vacuum Seal

An analysis is made of the rate of the mass flow through a vacuum seal separating two rarefied gas environments. The determination of the mass throughflow characteristics involves the formulation and solution of a coupled system of six integral equations. The formulation is performed using the methods of kinetic theory. Numerical solutions are carried out for a wide range of values of the seal geometrical parameter. Mass flow results evaluated from these solutions are presented graphically. In addition, representative distributions of the mass fluxes at the participating surfaces are given.