Accession Number:

ADA582766

Title:

Review of Rarefied Gas Effects in Hypersonic Applications

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH

Personal Author(s):

• Josyula, Eswar
• Burt, Jonathan

Report Date:

2011-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

41.0

Abstract:

Rarefied gas phenomena are found in a wide variety of hypersonic flow applications, and accurate characterization of such phenomena is often desired for engineering design and analysis. In atmospheric flows involving high Mach numbers andor low densities, underlying assumptions in a continuum fluid dynamics description tend to break down, and distributions of both molecule velocity and internal energy modes can depart significantly from equilibrium. In this paper, characteristics of rarefied and nonequilibrium gas flows are discussed, and several numerical methods for rarefied flow simulation are outlined. A variety of hypersonic flow applications are presented, and additional discussion is provided for directions of current and future research.

Descriptors:

• *HYPERSONIC FLOW
• *NONEQUILIBRIUM FLOW
• *RAREFIED GASES
• AERODYNAMICS
• ATMOSPHERE ENTRY
• BOLTZMANN EQUATION
• DENSITY
• KNUDSEN NUMBER
• MEAN FREE PATH
• MONTE CARLO METHOD
• NAVIER STOKES EQUATIONS
• PLUMES
• PRESSURE
• SHOCK WAVES
• TEMPERATURE
• THRUSTERS
• VELOCITY

Subject Categories:

• Fluid Mechanics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE