Analysis of multicomponent gas mixture flows with partial chemical equilibrium

Abstract

Diffusion equations and the corresponding transfer equations with effective transfer coefficients are derived using new unknown functions (linear combinations of diffusion fluxes and of concentrations) for reactive gas mixture flows with partial chemical equilibrium. The diffusion differential equations for rapid independent reactions degenerate into algebraic equations of detailed chemical equilibrium. The component formation sources on the right-hand sides of the remaining diffusion equations contain no rapid stages. It is shown that the assumption of partial chemical equilibrium is valid for hypersonic flow past blunt bodies with a nose radius of approx. 1 m on portions of their gliding reentry paths in the Earth's and Martian atmospheres.