Assessment of Reaction-Rate Predictions of a Collision-Energy Approach for Chemical Reactions in Atmospheric Flows

Abstract

A recently proposed approach for the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method to calculate chemical-reaction rates is assessed for high-temperature atmospheric species. The new DSMC model reproduces measured equilibrium reaction rates without using any macroscopic reaction-rate information. Since it uses only molecular properties, the new model is inherently able to predict reaction rates for arbitrary non-equilibrium conditions. DSMC non-equilibrium reaction rates are compared to Park’s phenomenological nonequilibrium reaction-rate model, the predominant model for hypersonic-flow-field calculations. For near-equilibrium conditions, Park’s model is in good agreement with the DSMC-calculated reaction rates. For far-from-equilibrium conditions, corresponding to a typical shock layer, significant differences can be found. The DSMC predictions are also found to be in very good agreement with measured and calculated non-equilibrium reaction rates, offering strong evidence that this is a viable and reliable technique to predict chemical reaction rates.