Influence of Radiative Heat Transfer on Magnetohydrodynamic Flow Control in Mars Entry

Magnetohydrodynamic flow control has been proposed for the mitigation mitigate aerodynamic heating during the planetary entry phase. This study examined the influence of radiative energy loss on the numerical simulation of magnetohydrodynamic flow control in Mars entry using an axisymmetric two-dimensional thermochemical nonequilibrium magnetohydrodynamic simulation coupled with a radiative heat transfer analysis based on the tangential slab model. Simulation is conducted for a sphere-cone test body flying through Martian atmosphere at an altitude of 50 km with a velocity of 7.9 km/s, with an imposed dipole magnetic field of peak magnetic flux density of 0.3 T. Numerical results show that when the radiative energy loss is considered, the effects of magnetohydrodynamic flow control, such as the mitigation of aerodynamic heating and the expansion of the shock layer, are significantly reduced compared to the case ignored radiative energy loss. This reduction arises from a decrease in vibrational-electron temperature due to radiative energy loss, which suppresses ionization, lowers electrical conductivity, and weakens MHD interaction. The results indicate that radiative energy loss must be accounted for to assess the effect of magnetohydrodynamic flow control.