Extension of the quantum-kinetic model to lunar and Mars return physics
- Aerothermodynamics Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 23681 (United States)
- Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States)
The ability to compute rarefied, ionized hypersonic flows is becoming more important as missions such as Earth reentry, landing high-mass payloads on Mars, and the exploration of the outer planets and their satellites are being considered. A recently introduced molecular-level chemistry model, the quantum-kinetic, or Q-K, model that predicts reaction rates for gases in thermal equilibrium and non-equilibrium using only kinetic theory and fundamental molecular properties, is extended in the current work to include electronic energy level transitions and reactions involving charged particles. Like the Q-K procedures for neutral species chemical reactions, these new models are phenomenological procedures that aim to reproduce the reaction/transition rates but do not necessarily capture the exact physics. These engineering models are necessarily efficient due to the requirement to compute billions of simulated collisions in direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) simulations. The new models are shown to generally agree within the spread of reported transition and reaction rates from the literature for near equilibrium conditions.
- OSTI ID:
- 22257088
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Fluids (1994), Vol. 26, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-6631
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Molecule-based approach for computing chemical-reaction rates in upper atmosphere hypersonic flows.
In Depth Analysis of AVCOAT TPS Response to a Reentry Flow