The effect of heat release in a chemical laser cavity

The flow emerging from the primary (fluorine) and secondary (deuterium) nozzles into the cavity base region of a deuterium fluoride (DF) continuous wave (CW) chemical laser is theoretically examined with and without the effect of heat release from the chemical reaction being included. The heat release due to chemical reactions is shown to influence such parameters as density, pressure, temperature, and Mach number without significant changes being introduced in the velocity. Over the calculational domain, these influences are shown to be relatively minor, on the order of ten percent, with the major effect being contained in the immediate vicinity of the mixing region between adjacent nozzles.