Evaluation of the Ambipolar Diffusion Approximation in Partially Ionized Rarefied Hypersonic Flows

Accurate numerical simulation of rarefied hypersonic plasmas is increasingly important for optimization of re-entry spacecraft design and the development of advanced aerospace technologies. For kinetic simulation methods, it is convention to enforce ions and electrons to diffuse at the same rate, known as the ambipolar diffusion approximation. This approach circumvents costly resolution of fast electron motion, but neglects the complex plasma dynamics of ions and electrons. Almost all studies that investigated the efficacy of the ambipolar diffusion approximation in hypersonics report noticeable differences in flowfield properties when electrostatic modeling is used, including increases in vehicle surface heat flux and decreases in electron temperature. However, it is unknown whether these reported differences originate directly from acceleration and deceleration of charged species through the electric fields and momentum-exchange collisions between charged and neutral species, defined as first-order effects, or from subsequent interactions with particles experiencing first-order effects, defined as second-order effects. Kinetic hypersonic flow simulations with electrostatic modeling are performed with argon to quantify the validity of the ambipolar diffusion approximation in terms of capturing first-order plasma effects along a one-dimensional stagnation streamline. Three different plasma diffusion regimes are studied under two sets of rarefied freestream flow conditions. The approximation is evaluated in terms of predicting plasma density distributions, electron temperature, and stagnation point heat flux. New criteria are proposed for identification of plasma diffusion regimes in hypersonic flows and use of the ambipolar diffusion approximation.