Molecular Physics and Hypersonic Flows

Molecular Physics and Hypersonic Flows bridges the gap between the fluid dynamics and molecular physics communities, emphasizing the role played by elementary processes in hypersonic flows. In particular, the work is primarily dedicated to filling the gap between microscopic and macroscopic treatments of the source terms to be inserted in the fluid dynamics codes. The first part of the book describes the molecular dynamics of elementary processes both in the gas phase and in the interaction with surfaces by using quantum mechanical and phenomenological approaches. A second group of contributions describes thermodynamics and transport properties of air components, with special attention to the transport of internal energy. A series of papers is devoted to the experimental and theoretical study of the flow of partially ionized gases. Subsequent contributions treat modern computational techniques for 3-D hypersonic flow. Non-equilibrium vibrational kinetics are then described, together with the coupling of vibration-dissociation processes as they affect hypersonic flows. Special emphasis is given to the interfacing of non-equilibrium models with computational fluid dynamics methods. Finally, the last part of the book deals with the application of direct Monte Carlo methods in describing rarefied flows.

Table of Contents:
Relevance of Aerothermochemistry for Hypersonic Technology.- Vibrational Energy Exchanges Between Diatomic Molecules of Relevance to Atmospheric Chemistry.- Reactive Vibrational Deexcitation: The N + N2 and O + O2 Reactions.- Reactive Cross Sections Involving Atomic Nitrogen and Ground and Vibrationally Excited Molecular Oxygen and Nitric Oxide.- Vibrational Relaxation, Nonequilibrium Chemical Reactions, and Kinetics of No Formation Behind Strong Shock Waves.- Non-Equilibrium Chemistry Models for Shock-Heated Gases.- Electron - Air Molecule Collisions in Hypersonic Flows.- Heterogeneous Catalysis: Theory, Models and Applications.- Recombination of Atomic Species on Surfaces.- Recombination of Oxygen And Nitrogen on Silica-Based Thermal Protection Surfaces: Mechanism and Implications.- Phenomenological Theory for Hheterogeneous Recombination of Partially Dissociated Air on High-Temperature Surfaces.- Chemical Reactions and Thermal Nonequilibrium on Silica Surfaces.- Sputtered Excited Atoms: Boundary Conditions.- Semi-Classical Treatment of the Dynamics of Molecule Surface Interaction.- Thermodynamic Equilibrium of Multi-Temperature Gas Mixtures.- Thermodynamic Approach of a Flow with Thermal Non-Equilibrium (translation - electron - vibration).- Thermodynamic Properties of High Temperature Air Components.- Old and New Problems Related to High Temperature Transport Properties.- Potential Energies and Collision Integrals for the Interactions of Air ComponentS. I. Ab initio calculation of potential energies and neutral interactions.- Potential Energies and Collision Integrals for the Interactions of Air Components. II. Scattering calculations and interactions involving ions.- Measurements and Nature of Intermolecular Forces: Their Role in Gaseous Properties.- Transport Properties of Nonequilibrium Gas Flows.- The Influence of Non-Boltzmann Vibrational Distribution on Thermal Conductivity and Viscosity.- The Role of Inelastic Rotational and Vibrational Collisions on Transport Coefficients.- Analysis of Approximation Introduced Using Simplified Sum Rules in Calculation of High Energy Air Transport Coefficients.- The Analitical Approaches to the Nonequilibrium Vibrational Kinetics.- Non-Equilibrium Vibrational, Electronic and Dissociation Kinetics in Molecular Plasmas and Their Coupling with the Electron Energy Distribution Function.- Self Consistent Modeling of Free Electron Kinetics.- Electron-Impact Ionization of Air Molecules and its Application to the Abatement of Volatile Organic Compounds.- Fluid Dynamic Modeling of Plasma Reactors.- Multicomponent Reactive Gas Dynamic Model for Low-Pressure Discharges in Flowing Oxygen.- Mathematical Models for Plasma and Gas flows in Induction Plasmatrons.- N2(A3?u+, v=0) Decay in N2-O2 Pulsed Post-Discharge.- Investigation of Species in Flowing Nitrogen Afterglow by a Discharge Probe.- The Recombination of Ionized Species in Supersonic Flows.- Modern Computational Techniques for 3D Hypersonic Flows.- CFD for Scirocco Project.- Some Effective Methods for Solving 3D Hypersonic Viscous Perfect Gas and Chemically Nonequilibrium Flows.- Review of Finite-Rate Chemistry Models for Air Dissociation and Ionization.- Chemistry Models for Air Dissociation.- Primary-Principles Based Simulation of Chemical and Relaxation Kinetics in Hypersonic Flows. Scale of Ambiguity Due to the Source Terms.- Interfacing Nonequilibrium Models with Computational Fluid Dynamics Methods.- Computation of High-Temperature Nonequilibrium Flows.- Nonequilibrium Vibration-Dissociation Coupling in Hypersonic Flows.- VibrationalKinetics for Numerical Simulation of Thermal Non Equilibrium Flows.- A Physically Consistent Vibration-Chemistry-Vibration Coupling Model.- Fundamental Aspects of the Coupling of Non-Equilibrium Vibrational Kinetics and Dissociation-Recombination Processes with the Boundary Layer Fluidynamics in N2 and Air Hypersonic Flows.- Statistical Simulation of Highly Nonequilibrium Hypersonic Rarefied Flows.- Extension of The Delta-Epsilon Method to Diatomic Gases.- Direct Numerical SImulation of Low-Density Atmospheric Flow on IO.- Single Particle Cellular Automata Models for Simulation of the Master Equation.- Application of Monte Carlo Sensitivity Analysis to Electron-Molecule Cross Sections in Nitrogen Discharges.- List of Participants.- Analytical Index.