Book Description

A second-order time-asymptotic solution to radiation-coupled stagnation-region flows is presented. The solution is applied to the hypervelocity flow over blunt vehicles of inviscid, nonconducting, equilibrium air, emitting and absorbing nongray radiation. Velocities, nose radii, and altitudes covered by the analysis are sufficient to bracket reentry trajectories of current interest. Radiative heat-transfer rates for the range of interest and typical profiles of pressure, density, enthalpy, temperature, and velocity are shown. The nature of time-asymptotic solution is discussed and it is shown o be a feasible means of achieving second-order accurate solutions to radiation-coupled shock-layer flows. Step-function models of the absorption coefficient are used in order to evaluate the divergence of the radiation flux vector. An analysis is carried out to determine what effect variations in the spectral complexity of the step model absorption coefficients used in the analysis will have on the thermodynamic and flow profiles of interest and on the nongray radiative heat-transfer rates. In this connection use is made of consistent model absorption coefficients having one to nine spectral steps with free-free, free-bound (including atomic line transitions), and molecular transitions taken into account. Relatively simple models of the absorption coefficient can be used with no significant loss of accuracy. An existing correlation for the cooling factor, the ratio of the radiation heat-transfer rate to the adiabatic radiation heat-transfer rate, is extended to larger velocities than heretofore considered.