Nuclear Rockets

The transport properties of dissociating hydrogen gas have been calculated from 1000°K to 15 000°K with the assumption of no ionization or electronic excitation. The rigorous kinetic-theory formulas, which have recently been modified to take into consideration the multiplicity of interaction curves, were used in the calculations. The transport coefficients at each temperature are tabulated as a function of composition rather than pressure for reasons of compactness and ease of interpolation. The fact that the collision integrals for the H-H interactions are abnormally large compared to those for the H-H2 and H2-H2 interactions causes the transport properties of the mixtures to exhibit somewhat unusual behavior as a function of composition at constant temperature and pressure. Various approximate formulas for the calculation of transport properties of mixtures have been checked against the results of the rigorous calculations. The errors in the viscosity and thermal conductivity are about 10%. For the Prandtl number, however, which involves the ratio of these coefficients, the error is only about 1%.

show abstract