Numerical simulation of thermochemical non-equilibrium flow-field characteristics around a hypersonic atmospheric reentry vehicle

A multi-physics thermochemical non-equilibrium model is established to study the flow characteristics of the plasma sheath around an atmospheric reentry demonstrator. This model includes the tight coupling of Navier-Stokes equations, 54 chemical reactions of air, and a four-temperature model. The processes of dissociation, ionization, and the internal energy exchanges of air components were successfully simulated during aerodynamic heating of the reentry vehicle. The distributions of plasma sheath temperature, the molar fraction of air species, stagnation pressure, surface pressure, and electron number density around the reentry vehicle were obtained at different flight altitudes. Additionally, to validate the numerical model developed in this study, the flow characteristics of the Radio Attenuation Measurement-C-II (RAM-C-II) vehicle are also simulated and then compared with corresponding experimental data. They show good consistency in general. It is found that when the vehicle is at a high flight altitude, there is a strong thermochemical non-equilibrium phenomenon around the vehicle. However, the plasma sheath tends to be in local thermal equilibrium at a low flight altitude. The distance from the shock layer to the stagnation point decreases with a decrease in reentry altitude from 90 to 65 km but increases with a decrease from 65 to 40 km. The electron number density in the shock layer is maximum. The distribution of the electron number density in the wake region differs significantly at different flight altitudes. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

A multi-physics thermochemical non-equilibrium model was established to study the flow characteristics of the plasma sheath around an atmospheric reentry demonstrator. The model successfully simulated the processes of dissociation, ionization, and energy exchanges of air components during aerodynamic heating. The distributions of various parameters were obtained at different flight altitudes and compared with experimental data. The model showed good consistency and the study provided insights into the thermochemical non-equilibrium phenomenon at different flight altitudes.