Simulation of RCC crack growth due to carbon oxidation in high-temperature gas environments

High temperature gas dynamic computational techniques are employed to study microflows in expanding crack channels caused by the oxidation of the channel carbon walls. Wall regression rates for three reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) samples that were tested in a high enthalpy arcjet environment were modeled. The test geometries and flow conditions span flow regimes from the transitional to the continuum, therefore kinetic (direct simulation Monte Carlo) and continuum (Navier-Stokes) gas dynamic approaches were used. The same mechanism for wall material loss, atomic oxygen reaction with bare carbon, was utilized in all three cases regardless of the computational techniques. The predicted wall regression rates were found to agree with arcjet measurements. Local gas flowfield results were found to affect the oxidation rate in a manner that cannot be predicted by previous mass loss correlations. The method holds promise for future modeling of materials gas-dynamic interactions for hypersonic flight.