Non-Equilibrium Thermochemical Models for the Characterization of Titan Atmospheric Entry Under Hypersonic Conditions
Antonio NARRACCI, Francesco BONELLI, Davide NINNI, Gianpiero COLONNA, Annarita LARICCHIUTA, Giuseppe PASCAZIO
Abstract. This work shows the development and verification of a model for the simulation of an atmospheric entry on Titan in non-equilibrium conditions. Park’s and Nelson’s multi-temperature approaches are tested on a literature test case for a neutral mixture and Park’s model is also verified for a charged mixture to evaluate the effects of ionization. Finally, a state-to-state model is used for further verification on the neutral mixture.
Keywords
Titan, Hypersonic Flows, Thermochemical Non-Equilibrium, Multi-Temperature, State-to-State
Published online 7/20/2026, 4 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Antonio NARRACCI, Francesco BONELLI, Davide NINNI, Gianpiero COLONNA, Annarita LARICCHIUTA, Giuseppe PASCAZIO, Non-Equilibrium Thermochemical Models for the Characterization of Titan Atmospheric Entry Under Hypersonic Conditions, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 69, pp 1283-1286, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904251-222
The article was published as article 222 of the book CEAS – AIDAA Conference 2025
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] J. D. Anderson, Hypersonic and High-Temperature Gas Dynamics, second edition, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., Virginia, 2006. https://doi.org/10.2514/4.861956
[2] M. Capitelli, R. Celiberto, G. Colonna, F. Esposito, Fundamentals aspects of Plasma Chemical Physics: Kinetics, Springer, NewYork, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8185-1
[3] G. Pascazio, D. Ninni, F. Bonelli, G. Colonna, Hypersonic flows with detailed state-to-state kinetics using a GPU cluster, in Plasma modeling: methods and applications, Second Edition, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2022, p. Chapter 10. https://doi.org/10.1088/978-0-7503-3559-1ch10
[4] F. Bonelli, D. Ninni, A. Narracci, G. Colonna, G. Pascazio, Assessment of a consistent multi-internal-temperature kinetic model for hypersonic neutral air flows using a finite volume solver, Computers and Fluids, 301, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2025.106796
[5] G. Colonna, F. Bonelli, G. Pascazio, Impact of fundamental molecular kinetics on macroscopic properties of high-enthalpy flows: The case of hypersonic atmospheric entry, Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 033404, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.4.033404
[6] N. Takashima, B. Hollis, E. Zoby, K. Sutton, J. Olejniczak, M. Wright, D. Prabhu, Preliminary Aerothermodynamics of Titan Aerocapture Aeroshell. 2006. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2003-4952
