The simulation of the aerothermal environment that a space vehicle experiences during the atmospheric descent is mandatory for the design of thermal shields of re-entry vehicles. In this framework, both numerical and experimental design approaches, as computational fluid dynamics and plasma wind...

A mathematical model able to deal with high temperature gas effects in hypersonic flow fields is presented. In order to assess this model, four typical hypersonic applications are considered. The numerical results are presented and compared with experimental data. The effects of the catalyticity...