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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Evaluation of one-dimensional approximations for radiative transport in blunt body shock layers

One-dimensional approximations for the nongray radiative flux and flux divergence in radiating shock layers about a blunt entry body are compared with an exact three-dimensional treatment. A coupled radiative-gasdynamic analysis of the shock layer flow about the entire body provided the thermodynamic field used in these comparisons. In terms of calculating the total energy lost by the shock layer, the one-dimensional approximations to the radiative flux divergence are accurate to within a few percent. In terms of calculating the surface flux, the one-dimensional approximations introduce the largest errors of approximately 15 percent near the stagnation point. The source of these errors is the slab-like geometric representation of the shock layer inherent in all one-dimensional models. Finally, for both the radiative flux and its divergence, the tangent slab approximation provides more accurate results than differential approximation methods.

Wilson, K. H.↗

Computational Analysis of Shock Layer Emission Measurements in an Arc-Jet Facility

This paper reports computational analysis of radiation emission experiments in a high enthalpy arc-jet wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. Recently, as part of ongoing arc-jet characterization work, spectroscopic radiation emission experiments have been conducted at the 20 MW NASA Ames arc-jet facility. The emission measurements were obtained from the arc-jet freestream and from a shock layer formed in front of flatfaced models. Analysis of these data is expected to provide valuable information about the thermodynamic state of the gas in the arc-jet freestream and in the shock layer as well as thermochemical equilibration processes behind the shock in arc-jet flows. Knowledge of the thermodynamic state of the gas in arc-jet test flows and especially within the shock layer is essential to interpret the heat transfer measurements such as in surface catalysis experiments. The present work is a continuation of previous work and focuses on analysis of the emission data obtained at relatively low-pressure conditions for which the arc-jet shock layer is expected to be in thermal and chemical nonequilibrium. Building blocks of the present computational analysis are: (1) simulation of nonequilibrium expanding flow in the converging-diverging conical nozzle and supersonic jet; (2) simulation of nonequilibrium shock layer formed in front of the flat-faced cylinder model; and (3) prediction of line-of-sight radiation from the computed flowfield. For computations of the nonequilibrium flow in the conical nozzle and shock layer, multi-temperature nonequilibrium codes with the axisymmetric formulation are used. For computations of line-of-sight radiation. a nonequilibrium radiation code (NEQAIR) is used to predict emission spectra from the computed flowfield. Computed line-of-sight averaged flow properties such as vibrational and rotational temperatures, species number densities within the shock layer will be compared with those deduced from the experimental spectra. Detailed comparisons of computational and experimental spectra will also be presented.

Gokcen, Tahir↗

Shock-Layer Radiation Insights Available Through Flowfield Property Binning

This paper introduces a method for assessing similarity between available shock-layer radiation measurements and the radiative heating to a vehicle of interest. This method will be referred to as the flowfield property binning (FPB) approach. The challenge in developing this approach is that radiometer measurements from a surface normal line of sight, observed radiation measurements of the entire shock-layer from a distance, or measured shock-tube nonequilibrium profiles are notably different geometrically than the radiative flux to a vehicle surface. Therefore, the relative contributions of various regions of the shock-layer to the measurement, and how these relative contributions compare with the radiative heating to a vehicle of interest, are unclear. By tracking the radiation contribution from each flowfield location, and then grouping this contribution based on two local flowfield properties, these geometric differences are removed. This provide a two dimensional group, or bin, distribution that represents the radiation environment in the same format for various types of radiation simulations, such as observed radiation or radiative flux to a vehicle surface. In the limits of optically-thin radiation transport and thermochemical equilibrium flow, the choice of pressure and temperature as the binning flowfield properties is shown to provide a bin distribution that uniquely defines the radiation simulation. This concept is found to be sufficient for establishing similarity between two cases even when the optically-thin radiation transport and thermochemical equilibrium assumptions are not satisfied. A simple metric of comparison between bin distributions from different cases is provided by the histogram intersection algorithm. This algorithm results in a histogram intersection factor (H) between 0 and 1, which represents the fraction of the radiation that is similar between the two cases. Therefore, if H evaluated between bin distributions for two completely different radiation problems is near 1, then they represent essentially the same radiation problem. This means that they depend on the same weighting of various radiation modeling parameters evaluated at the same pressure and temperature. If one of these cases agrees well with a radiation measurement, then the matching bin distributions provide justification for applying this experimental validation to the other case. Even for H values as low as 0.2, the measurement case could be considered relevant if there are no other useful measurements. This approach allows observed radiation measurements to directly inform radiative heating simulations, which allows NASA’s past and future investments in observed radiation measurements to directly inform the radiative heating uncertainty or margins for future vehicle design. This FPB approach is also used to determine shock-tube conditions for informing backshell radiative heating simulations, where the normal shock velocity and Lagrangian time from the shock is used for the binning variables instead of pressure and temperature.

Shock Layer Radiation↗

Status of Shock Layer Radiation Validation Studies

This paper presents a status update for the shock layer radiation validation studies conducted at NASA. A review of the present capability for the simulation and validation of shock layer radiation is presented as well as providing an overview of the data obtained from the Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST). The paper will include details covering updated convective and radiative heating correlations, provide an overview of the development of new kinetics for Mars entry and detail some recent work calculating after-body radiation. Furthermore, the paper will highlight conditions where there is high confidence in the validation of EAST data (e.g. Earth entry for speeds greater than approximately 10 kms and for many Mars entry conditions) and where further experimental data would be highly beneficial (e.g. lower speed Earth entry around 7.5 to 10 kms and higher speed CO2 entries relevant to Venus). Nominal test conditions for both Earth and Mars are provided for future potential facility-to-facility comparisons.

Entry systems modeling↗

Improved method for solving the viscous shock layer equations

An improved method for solving the viscous shock layer equations for supersonic/hypersonic flows past blunt-nosed bodies is presented. The method is capable of handling slender to thick bodies. The solution is obtained by solving a coupled set of five equations, built of the four basic viscous shock layer equations and an additional equation for the standoff distance. The coupling of the equations prevents the local iterations divergence problems encountered by previous methods of solution far downstream on slender bodies. It also eliminates the need for local iterations, which were required by previous methods of solution, for a first-order scheme in the streamwise direction. A new global iteration procedure is employed to impose the shock boundary conditions. The procedure prevents the global iteration instability encountered by the basic method of solution and improves the convergence rate of the global iteration procedure of later methods devised to overcome this difficulty. The new technique reduces the computation time by 65-95 percent as compared to previous methods of solution. The method can efficiently be implemented in vector/parallel computers.

Gordon, Rachel↗

The application of laser induced predissociation fluorescence to the measurement of vibrational temperatures in a shock layer flow

Single shot spatially and spectrally resolved laser induced predissociation fluorescence measurements in a shock layer around a cylinder in a pulsed supersonic free stream are presented. Fluorescence signals were produced using the tuned output of an argon fluoride excimer laser to excite a mixture of rovibrational transitions in molecular oxygen. The signals produced along a line inside the shock layer were focussed onto a two dimensional detector coupled to a spectrometer, thus allowing spectral and spatial resolution of the fluorescence. In this way, it was possible to detect two fluorescence signals from two different transitions simultaneously, allowing the determination of vibrational temperatures without the need for calibration. However, to minimize problems associated with low signal to noise ratios, background subtraction and spatial averaging was required. The experimental measurements are compared with theoretical inviscid shock layer calculations for nonequilibrium air. A description of the strategies employed in these calculations is also provided.

Sutton, D. J.↗

Locally nonsimilar solutions for radiating shock layer about smooth axisymmetric bodies

Locally nonsimilar solutions for nongray radiating shock layers about smooth axisymmetric bodies have been obtained based on a newly developed approximate method. Good agreement is found with numerical solutions for inviscid cases (both radiating and nonradiating) and with series solutions for the radiating viscous case. For the inviscid case, the effect of radiative cooling is to destroy the entropy layer; at a distance far from the stagnation point, the shock layer is nearly isothermal. For the viscous case, the radiative wall flux approaches that of the inviscid case at a distance far downstream of the stagnation point. The method can also treat surface mass injection.

Chou, Y. S.↗

A numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for chemically nonequilibrium, merged stagnation shock layers on spheres and two-dimensional cylinders in air

Results of solving the Navier-Stokes equations for chemically nonequilibrium, merged stagnation shock layers on spheres and two-dimensional cylinders are presented. The effects of wall catalysis and slip are also examined. The thin shock layer assumption is not made, and the thick viscous shock is allowed to develop within the computational domain. The results show good comparison with existing data. Due to the more pronounced merging of shock layer and boundary layer for the sphere, the heating rates for spheres become higher than those for cylinders as the altitude is increased.

Johnston, K. D.↗

A thin-shock-layer solution for nonequilibrium, inviscid hypersonic flows in earth, Martian, and Venusian atmospheres

An approximate inverse solution is presented for the nonequilibrium flow in the inviscid shock layer about a vehicle in hypersonic flight. The method is based upon a thin-shock-layer approximation and has the advantage of being applicable to both subsonic and supersonic regions of the shock layer. The relative simplicity of the method makes it ideally suited for programming on a digital computer with a significant reduction in storage capacity and computing time required by other more exact methods. Comparison of nonequilibrium solutions for an air mixture obtained by the present method is made with solutions obtained by two other methods. Additional cases are presented for entry of spherical nose cones into representative Venusian and Martian atmospheres. A digital computer program written in FORTRAN language is presented that permits an arbitrary gas mixture to be employed in the solution. The effects of vibration, dissociation, recombination, electronic excitation, and ionization are included in the program.

Grose, W. L.↗

Hypersonic Viscous Shock Layer of Nonequilibrium Dissociating Gas

The nonequilibrium chemical reaction of dissociation and recombination is studied theoretically for air in the viscous shock layer at the stagnation region af axisymmetric bodies. The flight regime considered is for speeds near satellite speed and for altitudes between 200,000 and 300,000 feet. The convective heat transfer to noncatalytic walls is obtained. The effects of nose radius, wall temperature, and flight altitude on the chemical state of the shock layer are studied. An analysis is also made on the simultaneous effect of nonequilibrium chemical reaction and air rarefaction on the shock layer thickness.

Chung, Paul M.↗