Validation of State-to-State Models of Vibrational–Chemical Kinetics in the Problem of Air Relaxation in the Afterglow

Air relaxation in the afterglow of a pulsed DC discharge is simulated using the state-to-state approach and two kinetic schemes. Good agreement of the results with experiment is shown. Key factors affecting the accuracy of the simulation are identified: consideration of vibrational nonequilibrium in all molecular species, the exchange Zeldovich reaction model, and the model for vibrational energy exchanges. A reduced kinetic scheme is developed that speeds up calculations by a factor of 37 while maintaining accuracy. The proposed model is applicable in a wide range of temperatures and nonequilibrium parameters.