Importance of Exchange Processes in Earth and Mars Atmospheric Kinetics: Application to HCN System

Maitreyee P. Sharma, Simone Venturi, Richard L. Jaffe, David Schwenke, Marco Panesi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

HCN is an important molecule in interstellar chemistry, atmospheric reentry as well as combustion. This paper presents the construction of the ground state singlet HCN potential energy surface (PES),1 and state-to-state (StS) kinetics of the molecule-atom systems associated with HCN. The ground state HCN surface is associated to the ground state of CN (2 Σ+ ) and NH (3 Σ ) and the first excited state of CH (4 Σ ). Multi-reference configuration interaction calculations are used to compute the ab-initio points on a grid of geometries for the diatomic potentials and the full PES. A total of 11688 ab-initio points are used to construct the potential energy surface. The diatomic potentials are fit to the Modified Morse functional form and the potential energy surface fit is obtained using a permutationally invariant polynomial neural network (PIP-NN). The RMS error in the potential energy surface fit are is upto 0.2 eV in the 0-25 eV energy range. The PES constructed highlights some important topological features. Firstly, the exchange of CH and NH to CN is barrier-less and second, the potential energy surface is characterized by two deep wells corresponding to HCN and HNC molecules in their ground singlet states. The considerably larger depth of the CN molecule diatomic potential and the barrier-less exchange pathway make exchange reactions and exchange assisted dissociation important kinetic features of the system. The potential energy surface constructed is used to carry out quasi-classical trajectory calculations followed by state-to-state isothermal heat bath simulations to study macroscopic quantities of interest to atmospheric entry. Furthermore, the exchange associated dissociation in CH and NH causes the dissociation to happen an order of magnitude faster in time when compared to only direct dissociation with the contribution due to exchange being 84.7% and 82.5% in the dissociation source terms, respectively.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAIAA SciTech Forum 2022
PublisherAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
ISBN (Print)9781624106316
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022
EventAIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition, AIAA SciTech Forum 2022 - San Diego, United States
Duration: Jan 3 2022Jan 7 2022

Publication series

NameAIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition, AIAA SciTech Forum 2022

Conference

ConferenceAIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition, AIAA SciTech Forum 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego
Period1/3/221/7/22

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Aerospace Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Importance of Exchange Processes in Earth and Mars Atmospheric Kinetics: Application to HCN System'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this