THE EXCITATION OF ELECTRONIC AND OTHER DEGREES OF FREEDOM IN A HYPERSONIC SHOCK WAVE IN AIR
Abstract
A review is given of the overall mechanisms of energy flow between translational, rotational, vibrational, chemical, and electronic degrees of freedom in a shock wave. Particular stress is placed on those aspects of the problem which are not well understood; namely, the mechanism for vibrational excitation and dissociation in high-speed shocks in which the assumptions of weak translation-vibration coupling and dissociation by vibrational ladder- climbing, which apply at room temperature, breakdown. While one can write a set of rate constants for at least the major chemical reactions in air, there is no comparable information on the excitation of electronic degrees of freedom in high-temperature air, and our knowledge of mechanisms is very limited. For illustrative purposes, the case of a shock wave in argon is reviewed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0650950
Entities
People
- Ernest Bauer
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses