Problems of rate chemistry in the flight regimes of aeroassisted orbital transfer vehiclesThe dissociating and ionizing nonequilibrium flows behind a normal shock wave are calculated for the density and vehicle regimes appropriate for aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicles; the departure of vibrational and electron temperatures from the gas temperature as well as viscous transport phenomena are accounted for. From the thermodynamic properties so determined, radiative power emission is calculated using an existing code. The resulting radiation characteristics are compared with the available experimental data. Chemical parameters are varied to investigate their effect on the radiation characteristics. It is concluded that the current knowledge of rate chemistry leads to a factor-of-4 uncertainty in nonequilibrium radiation intensities. The chemical parameters that must be studied to improve the accuracy are identified.
Document ID
19840056582
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Park, C. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)