Radiation and Reentry

Radiation and Reentry is an integrated review of a series of publications dealing with radiative transfer theory, applied spectroscopy, radiation gas dynamics, and ablation phenomena. This book contains seven chapters and begins with a presentation of opacity calculations under conditions for which detailed considerations of spectral line structures and widths are not required. The discussion then shifts to the basic methods involved in the formulation of radiative transfer problems; origin and definition of the Planck and Rosseland mean free paths; the conservation equations for reacting, multicomponent gas mixtures with proper allowance for radiative energy flux; and similarity parameters in radiation gas dynamics. These topics are followed by a summary of data relevant to the optically thick, optically thin, and isothermal cases for air in local thermodynamic equilibrium. A chapter describes the radiative properties of spherical particles and their particle size distributions. Another chapter considers the estimation of radiant-energy transmission through atmosphere. The concluding chapters explore the radiation transfer effects on the flow about a re-entry body and the specific problems of the effect of radiant-energy transfer on acoustic waves, shock wave structure, and shock and boundary layers. These chapters also examine the theoretical and experimental studies on the ablation of re-entry vehicles. This book is of great value to educated nonspecialists who are interested in the application of radiation field to high-speed atmospheric entry.