Calculation of the flow of rarefied gas around a circular cylinder at low Knudsen numbers

A symmetric second-order accurate splitting numerical method for the Boltzmann equation is proposed that is oriented to the examination of gas flow at low Knudsen numbers. The collision integral is linearized about a locally Maxwellian distribution function. Examples of the calculation of two-dimensional nonstationary flows around a circular cylinder are considered. An external macroscopic region is introduced that makes it possible to reduce the region in which the kinetic equation is solved. As a result, self-oscillations of the flow near the cylinder at low Knudsen numbers are examined.