Effect of Dissociation on the Rate of Vibrational Relaxation

Key Points

• To determine the dissociation rate behind strong shock waves in N2 and O2 using a revised model that couples vibrational excitation and molecular dissociation.
• Formulated a revised coupled vibration-dissociation model where the rate of vibrational excitation depends directly on the rate of dissociation.
• Accounted for the preferential removal of higher-energy molecules during dissociation as an energy drain on the remaining vibrational energy pool.
• Calculated dissociation rates and vibrational energy profiles behind strong shock waves in diatomic nitrogen and oxygen.
• Incorporating dissociation-mediated energy drainage substantially reduced the strong vibrational energy overshoot observed in previous models.
• The feedback coupling mechanism resulted in a decreased rate of molecular dissociation behind strong shocks.