Multimode Vibrational Relaxation in Polyatomic Molecules

The acoustic behavior of polyatomic gas mixtures associated with multimode vibrational relaxation has been calculated. Rapid resonant energy exchange reactions have been assumed which maintain a Boltzmann distribution in each mode during the relaxation process. In this case, energy and temperature relaxation equations have been derived for multiple quanta and multiple mode v-v processes without the invalid assumptions made in previous work. The frequency-dependent and complex heat capacity is expressed in terms of the eigenproperties of the energy relaxation matrix.