Introduction to the Special Section on Ab Initio Approaches for Nonequilibrium Flows

Modeling of chemical and ionization reactions at the extreme conditions of upper-atmosphere hypersonic flow has been critical for spacecraft design from the Apollo era to the present because chemical activity in the flow reduces heat transfer. Nitrogen, which behaves as an inert gas in ambient flows...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of thermophysics and heat transfer 2018-10, Vol.32 (4), p.832-832
Main Authors: Alexeenko, Alina, Gallis, Michael A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Nonequilibrium flow
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Modeling of chemical and ionization reactions at the extreme conditions of upper-atmosphere hypersonic flow has been critical for spacecraft design from the Apollo era to the present because chemical activity in the flow reduces heat transfer. Nitrogen, which behaves as an inert gas in ambient flows, becomes chemically active under conditions of hypersonic reentry (-10,000 K). Atmospheric chemical reactions during hypersonic reentry are dominated by dissociation of diatomic nitrogen and oxygen molecules and exchange reactions involving diatomic molecules and single atoms. At higher temperatures, ionization also occurs.
ISSN:0887-8722
1533-6808
DOI:10.2514/1.T5602