Nonequilibrium Vibrational Kinetics of Air Hitting a Catalytic SiO2 surface

The effects of a SiO2 partially catalytic surface on the nonequilibrium chemical and vibrational kinetics of a five-species (N, N2, O, O2, NO) air mixture in the boundary layer of hypersonic reentry vehicles have been investigated. To this aim, boundary-layer equations coupled to vibrational master equations have been solved. The surface atomic recombination reactions have been considered as pumping the last bound vibrational level of N2 and 02 molecules. The results show a combined influence of gas-phase and surface reactions on NO formation.