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Topic · Applied Mathematics

Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory

Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory is a research topic within Applied Mathematics. Science Explorer counts 38k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on mathematical and computational aspects of collisional kinetic theory, with applications to rarefied gas flows, hypersonic aerothermodynamics, and thermal protection systems. It covers topics such as the Boltzmann equation, numerical methods for kinetic equations, gas-surface interactions, microflows, and ablation properties of materials.

  • Kinetic Theory
  • Boltzmann Equation
  • Rarefied Flows
  • Numerical Methods
  • Thermal Protection Systems
  • Hypersonic Flows
  • Vlasov Equation
  • Gas-Solid Interfaces
  • Microflows
  • Ablative Materials
Research works
38k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+20%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory

Which countries lead Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.4k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.4k works
  2. 2 United States 1.2k works
  3. 3 Russia 377 works
  4. 4 France 275 works
  5. 5 India 267 works
  6. 6 Germany 237 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 154 works
  8. 8 Japan 146 works
  9. 9 Italy 143 works
  10. 10 South Korea 109 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 32.3%United States: 28.2%Russia: 8.7%France: 6.4%6 others listed: 24.4%32%largest
China1,397 · 32.3%United States1,219 · 28.2%Russia377 · 8.7%France275 · 6.4%6 others listed1,056 · 24.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 164 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 115 works
  3. 3 National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationUnited States 97 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 78 works
  5. 5 China Aerodynamics Research and Development CenterChina 57 works
  6. 6 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 54 works
  7. 7 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 52 works
  8. 8 Beihang UniversityChina 50 works
  9. 9 United States Department of DefenseUnited States 48 works
  10. 10 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 47 works

Who are the leading researchers in Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory include M. Shoji, Kieron Burke and Xiaogang Wang.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Kieron Burke United States 276k citations
  3. 3 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  4. 4 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  5. 5 Donald G. Truhlar United States 230k citations
  6. 6 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  7. 7 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory?

The most cited paper in Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory is "A Model for Collision Processes in Gases. I. Small Amplitude Processes in Charged and Neutral One-Component Systems" (Prabhu L. Bhatnagar, Eugene P. Gross, Max Krook, 1954), with 8,631 citations. Next come "Towards the ultimate conservative difference scheme. V. A second-order sequel to Godunov's method" (7,144) and "Efficient Implementation of Weighted ENO Schemes" (6,642).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Model for Collision Processes in Gases. I. Small Amplitude Processes in Charged and Neutral One-Component Systems Prabhu L. Bhatnagar, Eugene P. Gross, Max Krook · Physical Review May 1954 8,631
2 Towards the ultimate conservative difference scheme. V. A second-order sequel to Godunov's method Bram van Leer · Journal of Computational Physics Jul 1979 7,144
3 Efficient Implementation of Weighted ENO Schemes Guang-Shan Jiang, Chi‐Wang Shu · Journal of Computational Physics Open access Jun 1996 6,642
4 Lattice BGK Models for Navier-Stokes Equation Y. H. Qian, Dominique d’Humières, Pierre Lallemand · Europhysics Letters (EPL) Feb 1992 5,325
5 Efficient implementation of essentially non-oscillatory shock-capturing schemes, II Chi‐Wang Shu, Stanley Osher · Journal of Computational Physics Jul 1989 4,918
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory research done?

The largest centres of Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Xi'an (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hampton and Mianyang.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 343 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 192 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 129 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 96 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 83 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 81 works
  7. 7 MianyangChina 67 works
  8. 8 NovosibirskRussia 63 works
  9. 9 HamptonUnited States 62 works
  10. 10 WuhanChina 62 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HamptonUS · 62.2 works136×
  2. MianyangCN · 66.7 works24×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory than the world average.

See Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory on the map

Where is the best place to study Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory?

Among universities, judged by research, Southern University of Science and Technology, Beihang University and Northwestern Polytechnical University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 20.22%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Hong Kong University…Southern University …Beihang UniversityNorthwestern Polytec…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Southern University of Science and TechnologyChina 79.222.1%11.8×27 +295.7%
2Beihang UniversityChina 75.320.9%10.4×50 +44.1%
3Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 75.018.7%10.5×52 +24.7%
4Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyChina 75.024.5%6.9×12 +30.7%
5Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 73.326.7%4.2×30 +85.5%
6Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 73.123.3%4.7×36 +139.1%
7National University of Defense TechnologyChina 73.021.4%12.8×43 +0.9%
8University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States 70.410.9%11.4×43 +45.1%
9Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 69.914.7%12.3×47 +41.8%
10Stanford UniversityUnited States 66.819.0%4.3×28 +12.8%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory, country by country

Is Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 20% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.023% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory0.022% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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