Vibrational and rotational temperature measurements in a shock tube

Vibrational and rotational temperatures in nitrogen test gas relaxing behind a normal shock are measured using the emission spectra of N₂+ (1-) and N₂(2+) band systems in an electric-arc driven shock tube, at a shock velocity of 6.2 km/sec. The results are compared with similar data obtained by AVCO-Everett Research Laboratory during the 1960s. The vibrational and rotational temperatures in the equilibrium region obtained in the present experiment agreed with those of AVCO, but those in the nonequilibrium region are greatly different fron the AVCO results. The measured rotational temperature seems to be in nonequilibrium with the translational temperature, contradicting the two-temperature model widely used in CFD. Also, the relaxation rates for both N₂+ and N₂ molecules seem to be of the same order.