MACROSCOPIC MODEL OF VIBRATIONAL-RELAXATION IN SUPERSONIC-FLOW OVER BODIES WITH HEAT-TRANSFER

The method of efficient computation of relaxation of vibrationally excited molecules formed in atomic recombination is proposed for calculating heat transfer in the boundary layer on a body in a stream of dissociated gas. Using the example of a nitrogen molecule it is shown that the strong positive dependence of the VT relaxation rate on the gas temperature allows us to compute the heat generation in VT (vibrational-translational) relaxation of molecules in appreciably non-equilibrium conditions, by introducing the appropriate terms into the energy conservation equation. Calculations using the proposed vibrational relaxation model agree well with those based on the energy level system of equations of vibrational relaxation in the boundary layer over a wide range of flow conditions.