Overview

The NASA computer program CEA (Chemical Equilibrium with Applications) calculates chemical equilibrium compositions and thermodynamic properties of complex mixtures. Applications include assigned thermodynamic states, theoretical rocket performance, Chapman–Jouguet detonations, and shock-tube parameters for incident and reflected shocks.

CEA represents the latest in a series of computer programs developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center since the 1950s. These programs have evolved to include additional techniques. Associated with the program are independent databases with transport and thermodynamic properties of individual species. More than 2,000 species are contained in the thermodynamic database.

The program is written in ANSI-standard FORTRAN by Bonnie J. McBride and Sanford Gordon. It is widely used by the aerodynamics and thermodynamics community, with more than 2,000 copies in distribution.

What is CEA?

The CEA program calculates chemical equilibrium product concentrations from any set of reactants and determines thermodynamic and transport properties for the product mixture. Built-in applications include calculation of theoretical rocket performance, Chapman–Jouguet detonation parameters, shock tube parameters, and combustion properties.

A two-part publication describes the program and its use:

Part I: Analysis (NASA Reference Publication (RP)-1311)

Part I presents in detail several topics of general interest in chemical equilibrium calculations. These topics include mathematical analysis and techniques for obtaining chemical equilibrium; formulas for calculating thermodynamic and transport mixture properties and thermodynamic derivatives; criteria for inclusion of condensed phases; calculations at a triple point; inclusion of ionized species; and various applications, such as constant-pressure or constant-volume combustion, rocket performance based on either a finite- or infinite-chamber-area model, shock wave calculations, and Chapman–Jouguet detonations.

Part II: User’s Manual and Program Description (NASA RP-1311-P2)

The user’s manual is intended to facilitate use of CEA for solving thermodynamic and combustion problems. Topics include preparation of input files, output format, and a discussion of the program’s overall organization. Also discussed are the formats used for the associated thermodynamic and transport data files. Several examples are provided to illustrate the program’s versatility. The CEA program is written in ANSI-standard FORTRAN 77 by Bonnie J. McBride and Sanford Gordon.

History

CEA began in the 1940s at NASA Glenn to predict rocket propellant performance, evolving from early thermodynamic methods into a widely used analysis code.

• Read a history of CEA

CEA Application Information

THERMO BUILD

The NASA Glenn thermodynamic database was developed for use with computer programs that require standard state thermodynamic properties of individual species. NASA Glenn’s computer code CEA (Chemical Equilibrium with Applications) uses these data, documented in:

• NASA TP-2002-211556, “NASA Glenn Coefficients for Calculating Thermodynamic Properties of Individual Species,” by B.J. McBride, M.J. Zehe, and S. Gordon. September 2002.
• ThermoBuild includes an option for generating tables of thermodynamic functions for a user-supplied temperature schedule. This feature is a version of the CAP (Coefficients and Properties) computer program with a web-based interface. CAP is documented in:
• NASA TP-2001-210959, “CAP: A Computer Code for Generation Tabular Thermodynamic Functions from NASA Lewis Coefficients,” by M.J. Zehe, S. Gordon, and B.J. McBride, October 2001.
• ThermoBuild includes an option that facilitates downloading a subset of these data. The complete database is available when requesting the CEA program.

Partial data references are given with the coefficient data, usually depicted by the author’s last name and year of publication. An exception is for the TRC (Thermodynamic Research Center) looseleaf tables, where the table code and dates are given. Complete references are available at the CEARUN website.

ThermoBuild Tool

ThermoBuild is an interactive tool that uses the NASA Glenn thermodynamic database to select species and to obtain:

1. Tables of thermodynamic properties for a user-supplied temperature schedule.
2. Data subsets for use in CEA, SUBEQ, or any other computer program.

To generate a data subset go to the ThermoBuild Tool.

CAP (Coefficients and Properties)

The program CAP (Coefficients And Properties) generates tables of thermodynamic functions for individual species from thermodynamic data in the NASA format. These data may be copied from any source in the NASA format. The following report documents the program:

• CAP: Computer Code for Generating Tabular Thermodynamic Functions from NASA Lewis Coefficients (NASA TP-2001-210959-REV1)

PAC (Properties and Coefficients)

The program PAC (Properties And Coefficients) is used to prepare input thermodynamic data in the format required by CEA, from gas-phase spectroscopic constants or tabulated literature data. The program may be used for revising or expanding the database distributed with CEA. PAC is documented in the following NASA reports:

• Computer Program for Calculating and Fitting Thermodynamic Functions (NASA RP-1271)
• Thermodynamic Data to 20,000 K for Monatomic Gases (NASA TP-1999-208523)

CEARUN

We continually improve the online web-based user interface for CEARUN. We request and review user issues and comments while using this application, and consider them for inclusion. Thank you for using CEARUN and your contributions to this improvement effort.

• CEARUN Tool

Request Software

CEA can be requested from the NASA software catalog:

• NASA Software Catalog – CEA Link
• NASA Software Catalog – CEA in MATLAB (CEAM)

Contact

Area of Expertise	Researcher	Email
Chemical Equilibrium	Mark Leader	mark.leader@nasa.gov

Key Publications

Title	Author(s)	Source	Type	Year
Computer program for calculation of complex chemical equilibrium compositions and applications. Part 1: Analysis	Gordon, Sanford and McBride, Bonnie J.	NASA Reference Publication 1311; 1994	Reference Publication	1994
Computer Program for Calculation of Complex Chemical Equilibrium Compositions and Applications II. Users Manual and Program Description: Users Manual and Program Description – 2	Gordon, Sanford and McBride, Bonnie J.	NASA Reference Publication 1311; 1996	Reference Publication	1996