Nozzle flow with vibrational nonequilibrium

This research concerns the modeling and numerical solutions of the coupled system of compressible Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates under conditions of equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The problem considered was the modeling of a high temperature diatomic gas N2 flowing through a converging-diverging high expansion nozzle. The problem was modeled in two ways. The first model uses a single temperature with variable specific heats as functions of this temperature. For the second model we assume that the various degrees of freedom all have a Boltzmann distribution and that there is a continuous redistribution of energy among the various degrees of freedom as the gas passes through the nozzle. Each degree of freedom is assumed to have its own temperature and, consequently, each system state can be characterized by these temperatures. This suggests that formulation of a second model with a vibrational degree of freedom along with a rotational-translation degree of freedom, each degree of freedom having its own temperature. Initially the vibrational degree of freedom is excited by heating the gas to a high temperature. As the high temperature gas passes through the nozzle throat there is a sudden drop in temperature along with a relaxation time for the vibrational degree of freedom to achieve equilibrium with the rotational-translation degree of freedom. That is, we assume that the temperature change upon passing through the throat is so great that the changes in the vibrational degree of freedom occur at a much slower pace and consequently lags behind the rotational-translational energy changes. This lag results in a finite relaxation time. In this context the term nonequilibrium is used to denote the fact that the energy content of the various degrees of freedom are characterized by two temperatures. We neglect any chemical reactions which could also add nonequilibrium effects. We develop the energy equations for the nonequilibrium model from first principles. The resulting equations, which model the nozzle flow, can be expressed in various forms. In most forms the resulting equations are coupled systems of nonlinear partial differential equations subject to certain boundary conditions. To solve the resulting coupled system of nonlinear partial differential equations, several numerical techniques were investigated: (1) the explicit MacCormack method, (2) the explicit-implicit MacCormack method, (3) the method of operator splitting, (4) factorization schemes, and (5) the Steger-Warming scheme.