Monte Carlo Modeling of Electron Density in Hypersonic Rarefied Gas Flows

The electron density distribution around a vehicle employed in the RAM-C II flight test is calculated with the DSMC method. To resolve the mole fraction of electrons which is several orders lower than those of the primary species in the free stream, an algorithm named as trace species separation (TSS) is utilized. The TSS algorithm solves the primary and trace species separately, which is similar to the DSMC overlay techniques; however it generates new simulated molecules of trace species, such as ions and electrons in each cell, basing on the ionization and recombination rates directly, which differs from the DSMC overlay techniques based on probabilistic models. The electron density distributions computed by TSS agree well with the flight data measured in the RAM-C II test along a decent trajectory at three altitudes 81km, 76km, and 71km.