Detailed simulation of nitrogen dissociation in stagnation regions

Graham V. Candler, Joseph Olejniczak, Brent Harrold

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63 Scopus citations

Abstract

Vibrational relaxation rates from Schwartz-Slawsky-Herzfeld theory and the forced-harmonic oscillator model are used to study the flow of nitrogen in the stagnation region of a blunt body. The mass conservation equations are coupled to the momentum and total energy equations, and solved using an implicit finite-volume computational fluid dynamics method. The effects of single- and multiple-quantum vibration-translation transitions and vibration-vibration transitions are studied. Also, the effect of the mass diffusion of the excited oscillators across the shock layer is investigated. It is found that highly non-Boltzmann vibrational distributions are present in the flow field, and that the forced-harmonic oscillator model predicts that dissociation occurs from the low vibrational levels only.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2108-2117
Number of pages10
JournalPhysics of Fluids
Volume9
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1997

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Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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