Chemical non-equilibrium flow simulation of plasma wind tunnel test of HSP crew module

In the current work a theoretical methodology has been developed to model chemical non-equilibrium and thermal equilibrium flows for two dimensional/axi-symmetric geometries for high temperature environments. Many models based on single and two temperatures (depending on the translational, rotational and vibrational modes of molecular excitement) are available in the literature. In the present formulation, Park-87 model (7 species, 24 reactions, single temperature) has been used. This work confirms that the knowledge of the flow chemical environment is crucial for the exact prediction of the vehicle aeroheating. With the numerical model developed, Simulation of Plasma Wind Tunnel test of scaled down model of HSP (Human Space flight Project) crew module has been attempted and also the effect of catalytic nature of the external surface on the aerodynamic heating also brought out through the present study. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.