Energy transfer through a dissociated diatomic gas in Couette flow

Abstract

The transfer of energy through a dissociated diatomic gas in Couette flow is considered, taking oxygen as a numerical example. The two extremes of chemical equilibrium flow and chemically frozen flow are dealt with in detail, and it is shown that the surface reaction rate is of prime importance in the latter case. The chemical rate equations in the gas phase are used to estimate the probable chemical state of the gas mixture, this being deduced from the ratio of a characteristic chemical reaction time to a characteristic time for atom diffusion across the layer. The influence of the surface reaction appears to spread outwards through the flow from the wall as gas-phase chemical reaction times decrease. For practical values of the surface reaction rate on a metallic wall, the energy transfer rate may be significantly lower in chemically frozen flow than in chemical equilibrium flow under otherwise similar circumstances.Similar phenomena to those discussed will arise in the more complicated case of boundary layer flows, so that a treatment of the simpler type of shear layer represented by Couette flow may be of some value in assessing the relative importance of the various parameters.