Heat Transfer in Subsonic Flows of Dissociated Nitrogen: HF Plasmatron Experiment and Numerical Simulation

Abstract

Experiments on heat transfer in subsonic jets of dissociated nitrogen have been carried out on a IPG-4 induction plasmatron. The heat fluxes to copper, stainless steel, nickel, graphite, and quartz surfaces at the stagnation point of a water-cooled cylindrical flat-faced model 20 mm in diameter and dynamic pressures have been measured at a pressure of 50 hPa in the test chamber and a power of 35–65 kW of the HF generator. The experiments showed the influence of surface catalytic properties on the heat flux in relation to the nitrogen atom recombination. In the conditions of the experiments, a numerical simulation of nitrogen plasma flows in the discharge channel of plasmatron and the subsonic dissociated nitrogen jet flow around the cylindrical model has been carried out. The experimental and calculated data on heat fluxes to cooled copper, stainless steel, nickel, graphite, and quartz surfaces are compared. The quantitative catalyticity scale of the studied materials in relation to the heterogeneous recombination of nitrogen atoms is established.