Book Description
The aerothermodynamic environment around a "EXPRESS" reentry capsule at hypersonic speed is studied in the flight regime of the severe wall heating rate with emphasis on the effects of the wall catalycity and temperature by using the axisymmetric viscous shock-layer equations with the seven-air-species non equilibrium chemistry. The wall heating rate and the electron number density in the shock-layer over the capsule are predicted at various altitudes on its night trajectory. In order to evaluate the wall catalycity, the finite catalytic wall model is introduced. The sensitivity of the wall heating rate to the uncertainties in the chemical reaction model and the wall condition model is investigated parametrically. The extent of the influences of the wall conditions on the shock-layer flow properties strongly depends on the extent of flow non equilibrium.