Numerical prediction of nonequilibrium hypersonic flow around Brazilian satellite SARA

Hypersonic flows past Brazilian satellite SARA at zero angle of attack in chemical and thermal nonequilibrium are investigated using an axisymmetric Navier-Stokes solver. The numerical solutions were carried out for freestream conditions equivalent to a typically re-entry trajectory with a range of Mach numbers from 10 to 25. The gas was chemically composed by seven air species O;N;NO;O2, N2;NO+; e- with 24 steps chemical reactions scheme and thermically characterized by a multi-temperature model. Comparisons have been made between the present computation and the distribution of pressure coefficient and the heat transfer obtained recently with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method[1]. The study also points out the influence of nonequilibrium phenomena like ionization, vibrational and electronic excitation on aerothermodynamic flow parameters.