Kinetics of CO Molecules Taking into Account Resonant VE Exchanges in a Nonequilibrium Nozzle Flow

Abstract

The kinetics of CO molecules with excited electronic levels for a nonequilibrium flow in nozzles is studied. Three electronic energy levels are taken into account; the VV exchanges of the vibrational energy within each electronic energy level, VT transitions from the vibrational energy to the translational energy, and VE exchanges between the vibrational energy and the electronic terms occur in the system. The system of equations of vibrational level kinetics and gasdynamics, which is written in the zeroth approximation of the Chapman–Enskog method, is solved numerically. Special attention is paid to estimating the effect of the VE exchanges of the vibrational energy on the formation of nonequilibrium populations of the vibrational levels. It is shown that resonant VE transitions considerably affect the relaxation process and noticeably change the population of the upper vibrational levels even in the absence of recombination and dissociation processes; VE exchanges also affect the time dependence of the vibrational temperature.