Investigation of an Ionized Shock Layer in a Rarefied Gas Flow Around a Reentry Vehicle

Abstract

In order to extend the existing approach of computing ionized flows about reentry spacecraft by the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, an ionized shock layer in a rarefied gas flow around a reentry vehicle is considered. The effect of various physical processes on the distribution of the electron temperature in the shock layer is analyzed by evaluation of the relevant relaxation and exchange terms in the equation of the electron energy balance.