Model for Heterogeneous Catalysis on Metal Surfaces with Applications to Hypersonic Flows

A model for heterogeneous catalysis for copper, nickel, and platinum has been devised. The model simulates the heterogeneous chemical kinetics of dissociated aire ow impinging metal surfaces. Elementary phenomena such as atomic and molecular adsorption, Eley ‐Rideal and Langmuir ‐Hinshelwood recombinations, and thermal desorption have been accounted for. Comparisons with experimental results for nitrogen and oxygen recombination show good agreement. The e nite rate catalysis model has been used to analyze numerically the problems of heterogeneous catalysis similarity between hypersonic ground testing and reentry e ight. Therefore, the e ow around a blunt cone under these conditions has been calculated, and results for heat e uxes and for a suggested similarity parameter have been compared and discussed. Nomenclature