Modeling of hypersonic reacting flows

The effect of nonequilibrium thermochemical processes on the aerodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of a hypersonic vehicle is illustrated with examples. It is shown that the conventional method of predicting chemical reactions always predict that the flow is closer to equilibrium than it actually is, leading to incorrect predictions of aerodynamic characteristics of a vehicle. A method is presented for predicting chemical processes using a two-temperature kinetic model, which is developed on the basis of combining conservation equations for vibrational energy and for electron electronic energy, which are also derived. The validity of the two-temperature model is proven using two types of experimental data: radiation and shock shapes.