Protective effect of pyrolysis gases combustion against surface ablation under different Mach numbers

Abstract

Whether pyrolysis gases combustion has effect on surface ablation of charring material is a key issue in the optimization design of thermal protection system for hypersonic vehicles. The coupled method considering combustion of pyrolysis gases in shock layer is presented, realized in MATLAB and validated by comparison with the arcjet experiments. Relationship between surface ablation and mole fraction of oxygen, mass injection rate of pyrolysis gases and surface temperature of charring material under different Mach numbers are predicted by this coupled method. Numerical results indicate that the protective effect of pyrolysis gases combustion on surface ablation is more and more obvious with increase of Mach number. This study is helpful to the optimization of thermal protection system for hypersonic vehicles.