Modeling of electron energy phenomena in hypersonic flows

Kim, Minkwan, Gülhan, Ali and Boyd, Iain D. (2012) Modeling of electron energy phenomena in hypersonic flows. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 26 (2), 244-257. (doi:10.2514/1.T3716).

Abstract

Studies are described for modeling electron energy phenomena for hypersonic flows. The electron energy must be modeled separately from other energy modes because it may have a significant effect on vibrational relaxation and chemical reactions. Whenever flows are in a strong thermal nonequilibrium state, an electron energy equation should be considered. In the considered electron energy equation, the electron energy relaxations of each energy mode are accounted for, which include translational-electron, rotational-electron, and vibrational-electron energy relaxation. To avoid a singularity of the Jacobian in the electron energy equation, we introduce a modified electron energy expression. The suggested electron-energy model is implemented into a hypersonic flow code for both explicit and implicit methods. In the present study, we numerically simulate the electron energy with electron-vibrational relaxation for diatomic nitrogen. For the assessment of the electron-energy model, we simulate several cases, which are a plasma wind-tunnel, a radio attenuation measurement (RAM)-C case, the entry of the automated transfer vehicle, and the Stardust reentry capsule.

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Contributors

Author: Minkwan Kim

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