SSME nozzle flow field calculations using equilibrium PARC code

The purpose of this research was to enhance the PARC Navier-Stokes computer code by adding hydrogen-oxygen equilibrium chemistry as an option when solving chemically reacting flow problems. Modifications to the PARC code were made by combining classical thermodynamics, statistical thermodynamics, and kinetic theory calculations to calculate the equilibrium and transport properties of the flow. The new equilibrium version of the code was then used to calculate the SSME nozzle flow field and the results were compared with the constant specific heat solution. As expected, higher nozzle performance was predicted due to increased energy release by the equilibrium flow. Nozzle performance parameters also compared very well with results from the NASA Two-Dimensional Kinetic code (TDK) and the measured test data.