Noble-Abel / First-order virial equations of state for gas mixtures resulting of multiple condensed reactive materials combustion

TL;DR

This paper compares the Noble-Abel and first-order virial equations of state for gas mixtures in combustion, finding the virial approach more accurate but computationally intensive, especially for reactive mixtures.

Contribution

It introduces a first-order virial EOS with temperature-dependent specific heat and extends it to multiple reactive materials, comparing it with the Noble-Abel EOS.

Findings

VO1 is more accurate than NA for gas density variations.

Considering temperature-dependent specific heat has negligible impact.

NA is less accurate for reactive gas mixtures, but computationally simpler.

Abstract

The Noble-Abel (NA) equation of state (EOS) is widely used in interior ballistics of guns as well as rocket propulsion computations. Its simplicity and accuracy are key points for intensive computations with hyperbolic two-phase flow models considered in interior ballistics codes. An alternative is examined in the present contribution through a first-order virial (VO1) equation of state. Appropriate methods for the determination of related parameters, such as specific gas constant, covolume and condensed material energy for both formulations (NA and VO1) are presented. Combination of closed bomb vessel experiments and thermochemical code computations are needed. An extended VO1 EOS with temperature dependent specific heat is examined. Then extension to multiple reactive materials is addressed. Examples are examined for each formulation (NA and VO1) and comparisons are done with the Becker-Kistiakowsky-Wilson (BKW) EOS as reference. Several conclusions emerged. First, consideration of specific heat temperature dependance in interior ballistics of guns computations appeared insignificant. Second, VO1 appeared more accurate than NA, particularly when gas density comes out of the range used for the EOS parameters determination. Last, regarding mixtures of condensed reactive materials, producing burnt gas mixtures, NA appeared again less accurate than VO1. However, its formulation is explicit, while VO1 requires numerical solving of a non-linear equation, with consequences on computational cost.