Unsteady gas laser simulation

Theoretical models for chemical lasers depend on a variety of assumptions and empirical data to provide closure and simplify solution of the governing equations. Among the various assumptions and empirical data that have been built into models for chemical lasers are assumptions regarding flow steadiness in the time domain and geometric similarity of the spatial domain. The work discussed here is directed toward elucidating and increasing the understanding of these assumptions commonly used in chemical laser simulation and the impact of their usage upon the predictions of these models. These efforts in turn are directly linked to efforts to achieve improved chemical laser efficiencies and performance, as excursions outside the assumed to be ´well understood´ traditional operational parameter space are increasingly necessary.