Thermal Radiation Solving Method Library for the Reentry Vehicle Flowfield Simulation

Based on comparisons of the results of the one-dimensional radiation equilibrium and temperature discontinuity model cases, a thermal radiation solving method library consisting of the discrete ordinates method, P₁ approximation, and the optically limiting approximation is proposed. The library can achieve the effective coupled simulation with equations describing the thermo-chemical nonequilibrium flow over the reentry vehicle. In the 60 km altitude and Mach number 35 sphere model case, it is found that the thermal radiation can 'cool' the high temperature shock layer remarkably. It is also demonstrated that the radiative heating is comparable to the convective heating, and the radiative heating of the simulation uncoupled with the radiation overestimates 27% of the coupled value, which illustrates that coupling effects of the radiation should be considered in corresponding research.