Influence of vibrational relaxation on the pulsation activity in flows of an excited diatomic gas

The influence of vibrational relaxation on the nonlinear evolution of a large vortex structure in a shear flow of a highly nonequilibrium diatomic gas is studied. Calculations are performed using the equations of two-temperature gas dynamics for a viscous heat-conducting gas. Relaxation of the temperature of vibrational levels of gas molecules to equilibrium is described by the Landau–Teller equation. The contribution of the relaxation of rotational levels is taken into account by the bulk viscosity in the stress tensor. It is shown that in the presence of only the relaxation process with no viscous dissipation, the damping of the kinetic energy of perturbations and Reynolds stresses increases by up to 10% compared to the case of thermal equilibrium. For high (actually attainable) degrees of excitation of the vibrational mode, moderate dynamic and bulk viscosities, and a typical relaxation time comparable to flow time, the relative effect of perturbation damping reaches 15%.