Numerical simulations of high enthalpy flows around entry bodies

Ablation flows around entry bodies are at highly nonequilibrium states. This paper presents comprehensive computational fluid dynamics simulations of such hypersonic flow examples. The computational scheme adopted in this study is based on the Navier–Stokes equations, and it is capable of simulating multiple-dimensional, non-equilibrium, chemically reacting gas flows with multiple species. Finite rate chemical reactions, multiple temperature relaxation processes, and ionizations phenomena with electrons are modeled. Simulation results of several hypersonic gas flows over axisymmetric bodies are presented and compared with results in the literature. It confirms that some past treatment of adopting less species for hypersonic flows is acceptable, and the differences from more species and more chemical reactions are not significant.