Energetic shockwaves generated during hypersonic flight can heat up the gas enveloping a vehicle to temperatures that cause excitation of internal energy modes and chemical reactions in the gas-phase. Traditional modeling of flow in thermochemical nonequilibrium is based on empirical relations and experimental data from the Apollo era, which causes the predictive models to have large uncertainties. This can influence flow features like shock stand-off and the composition of the shock-heated gas in predictive simulations, and consequently can affect estimation of mission critical quantities such as surface heating experienced by the vehicle.
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