Is air a viscous fluid or an ideal gas?

AI Thread Summary
Air can be treated as an ideal gas at equilibrium but behaves as a Newtonian fluid dynamically, indicating it cannot be fully categorized as either. The discussion highlights the need for a hybrid model to address scenarios like combustion and high-velocity processes. While ideal gases are theoretical constructs, air is fundamentally a viscous fluid under normal conditions. In aerodynamics, air can often be approximated as an ideal gas for simplicity, but this does not reflect its true nature. Understanding air as a viscous fluid is essential for accurate modeling in various applications.
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A Newtonian fluid is a continuous medium with viscosity and can "stick to itself".
An ideal gas is a collection of non interacting point particles.
Obviously at equilibrium, air can be treated as an ideal gas, while dynamically it is treated as a Newtonian fluid. But it cannot be both (since these models are polar opposites). It must be something in between.

Does anyone know of any good papers that explore this subject or give some insight into this matter?
My intention is that I want to know if there is a different model, in essence a hybrid of the two, which can be applied to certain situations (I'm thinking of combustion/detonation or other non-equilibrium, high velocity processes).

Thanks for helping.
 
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Well considering that an ideal gas does not truly exist and is more of a concept used to simplify problems, it doesn't have to be "something in between" at all. Air is a viscous fluid. Thermodynamically, it can be treated as an idea gas most of the time in aerodynamics and for rough estimates it can often be treated as an ideal gas in a fluid dynamic sense as well (see potential flow theory). However, in reality, it is just like any other non-rarefied fluid not hovering around 0 K... it is a viscous fluid.
 
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