Towards a Computational Framework for Hypervelocity-Induced Atmospheric Plasma Modeling

Abstract The work presented in this paper estimates the spectral radiance emitted from plasma induced by the interaction of hypervelocity moving structural/material systems with the atmosphere. The motivation for this effort originates from the need to compute the radiative heat fluxes imparted to hypersonic vehicles to facilitate their design, control, and maintenance. In response to this need, a computational framework was established to predict the fluid dynamics fields around a hypervelocity vehicle that in turn is coupled with the plasma physics that enables the calculation of the plasma fields and species dynamics. This framework implements a one-way coupling between fluid dynamics and plasma physics models. The framework solves the fluid dynamics partial differential equations representing the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. The computed pressure, velocity, and temperature fields are subsequently utilized to drive the plasma physics PDEs describing the mass transport and energetics of all the nitrogen-oxygen 11 species present according to the so-called Dunn plasma model. An application of this framework for a spherical body for a wide range of velocities is presented as a verification of the framework’s functionality. Typical distributions of the fluid and plasma dynamics are presented. Finally, the plasma radiance spectra are produced by employing statistical mechanics principles.