ELECTRON-HEAVY-PARTICLE NONEQUILIBRIUM IN AN ARGON ARCJET.
Abstract
The departure from equilibrium in a dense, partlyionized arcjet exhaust is estimated in terms of the mole fractions of the various constituents, the electron-heavy particle temperature difference, and the populations of excited states. Cooling of the arcjet is accomplished by mixing with a different cool gas; the example studied is that of a hot subsonic argon jet mixing with cool helium at one atmosphere, using measured time rates of temperature decay. The energy-exchange processes considered are elastic collisions, radiation, and the various types of ion-electron recombination. It is concluded that the electron-heavy particle temperature difference is small when the temperature decay rate is small (i.e., slow mixing), but can be of the order of 20% of the heavy-particle temperature at the highest temperature decay rates observed experimentally. In the latter case, therefore, it cannot be assumed that the arcjet exhaust is in equilibrium, and further experimental data are needed to establish the quantitative nature of the departure from full thermodynamic equilibrium. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0610530
Entities
People
- Jerry Grey
- Martin P. Sherman
- Paul F. Jacobs
Organizations
- Princeton University