The kinetic chemical equilibrium regime

We investigate reactive gas mixtures in the kinetic chemical equilibrium regime. Our starting point is a generalized Boltzmann equation with a chemical source term valid for arbitrary reaction mechanisms and yielding a positive entropy production. We first study the Enskog expansion in the kinetic chemical equilibrium regime. We derive a new set of macroscopic equations in the zeroth- and first-order regimes, expressing conservation of element densities, momentum and energy. The transport fluxes arising in the Navier–Stokes equilibrium regime are the element diffusion velocities, the heat flux vector and the pressure tensor and are written in terms of transport coefficients. Upon introducing species diffusion velocities, the kinetic equilibrium regime appears to be formally equivalent to the one obtained for gas mixtures in chemical nonequilibrium and then letting the chemical reactions approach equilibrium. The actual values of the transport coefficients are, however, different. Finally, we derive the entropy conservation equation in the Navier–Stokes equilibrium regime and show that the source term is positive and that it is compatible with Onsager’s reciprocal relations.