Radiative heat transfer and vaporization of the frontal surface in the case of hypersonic flow past a body

A review is presented of the initial assumptions and main results of a large number of theoretical and laboratory studies performed at the MGU Institute of Mechanics on the radiative heat transfer and vaporization of the frontal parts of bodies moving at hypersonic velocity in planetary atmospheres. The choice of the radiating-gas model is considered with particular attention given to the gray-gas model, the two- and three-stage models, the multistage quasi-continuum model, and the total spectrum of the radiating gas mixture. Results are presented for the flow of air and a helium-hydrogen mixture past a spherically blunt body and for a pure-hydrogen flow past a sphere.