The presence of shocks in scramjet internal flows introduces nonequilibrium of internal energy modes of the molecules. Here, the effect of vibrational nonequilibrium on key reactions of hydrogen-air combustion is studied. A quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) approach is used to derive reaction probability for nonequilibrium conditions using ab initio-derived potential energy surfaces. The reaction rates under nonequilibrium are studied using a two-temperature description, where the vibrational modes are assumed to be distributed according to a Boltzmann distribution at a characteristic vibrational temperature, in addition to a translational temperature describing the translational and rotational population distribution. At scramjet-relevant conditions, it is found that the nonequilibrium reaction rate depends not only on the level of vibrational excitation, but also on the reactants involved. Conventional two-temperature models for reaction rates, often derived using empirical means, were found to be inaccurate under these conditions, and modified parameters are proposed based on the QCT calculations. It is also found that models that include details of the reaction process through dissociation energy, for instance, provide a better description of nonequilibrium effects.

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The dissociation of nitrogen was studied using a quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) analysis in the context of calculating the dissociation rate surface for a dense range of temperatures for use in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications. By sampling rovibrational states from a Boltzmann distribution but uniformly sampling the relative speed, the dissociation rate was calculated for translational and rovibrational temperatures between 8000 K and 20000 K. The justification for this approach was verified by analyzing different sampling techniques. It was found that uniformly sampling the relative speed increased the uncertainty of the thermally averaged dissociation rate, but the same QCT results could be used for a large range of temperatures. This is in contrast to Monte Carlo sampling techniques, where a new batch of trajectories must be simulated for each desired temperature. To generate the dissociation rate surface, 500 million trajectories were simulated, and the non-equilibrium rates were compared to other models and experimental data, generally showing good agreement.

Reliable and robust simulations of detonations in inhomogeneous and turbulent environments are of direct importance in the design of rotating detonation engines (RDEs). In particular, computational models will be especially useful in designing and optimizing discrete injectors that introduce fuel and air separately into the detonation chamber, but ensure appropriate level of mixing to sustain detonations but minimize backflow of detonation products and pressure waves into the feed plenums. Since the structure of detonations itself is non-ideal, models have to include a detailed description of this reacting flow in order to be predictive in nature. Here, a highly-scalable open source based solver has been developed for complex detonating flows such that a) the detonation processes are described using detailed chemical kinetics, b) the method is computationally efficient through the introduction of adaptive mesh refinement, and c) the solver can handle complex geometries of relevance to RDE design. Grid convergence of key metrics for detonations is evaluated using canonical flows. Further, the importance of the use of detailed chemical kinetics is illustrated by extracting the composition structure behind a two-dimensional detonation front. Finally, simulations of a practical RDE configuration are used to demonstrate the applicability of this solver to analyzing geometries. The simulation captures the general trends of the experiment well. It is found that the detonation occurs under partially-premixed conditions. Propagation of pressure waves to the injection system is observed which could influence flow behavior in the oxidizer plenum.

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