Application of Planck-Rosseland-Gray Model for High-Enthalpy Arc Heaters

Abstract

An upgraded ARCFLO computer code using a radiation model named Planck-Rosseland-Gray(PRG) model is developed. The developed method is capable of analyzing both an air and a carbonaceous gas flow in the constrictor of an arcjet wind tunnel. In the first part of this paper, the method is tested against the experimental data for air. The testing is carried out by modifying the turbulence parameters employed in the ARCFLO code. Radiation calculation is made by accounting for electron thermal nonequilibrium. Agreements between experimental data and calculation are obtained by choosing a set of the turbulence parameter appropriately. In the second part, a carbonaceous gas flow is preliminary calculated with the turbulence parameter so chosen. The depth of carbon condensation is evaluated approximately. The characteristic data such as mass averaged enthalpy, etc., are presented for typical operation conditions.