The thermochemical non-equilibrium scale effects of the high enthalpy nozzle

Abstract

The high enthalpy nozzle converts the high enthalpy stagnation gas into the hypervelocity free flow. The flow region of the high enthalpy nozzle consists of three parts: an equilibrium region upstream of the throat, a non-equilibrium region near the throat, and a frozen region downstream of the throat. Here we propose to consider the thermochemical non-equilibrium scale effects in the high enthalpy nozzle. By numerically solving axisymmetric compressible Navier-Stokes equations coupling with Park’s two-temperature model, the fully non-equilibrium solution is employed throughout the entire nozzle. Calculations are performed at different stagnation conditions with the different absolute scales and expansion ratio. The results of this study are twofold. Firstly, as the absolute scale and expansion ratio increase, the freezing position is delayed, and the flow approaches equilibrium. Secondly, the vibrational temperature and Mach number decrease with the increase in the nozzle scale and expansion ratio, while the speed of sound, static pressure, and translational temperature increase as the nozzle scale and expansion ratio increase.