  Context: Chemically peculiar A type (Ap) stars are a subgroup of the CP2
stars which exhibit anomalous overabundances of numerous elements, e.g. Fe, Cr,
Sr and rare earth elements. The pulsating subgroup of the Ap stars, the roAp
stars, present ideal laboratories to observe and model pulsational signatures
as well as the interplay of the pulsations with strong magnetic fields and
vertical abundance gradients. Aims: Based on high resolution spectroscopic
observations and observed stellar energy distributions we construct a self
consistent model atmosphere, that accounts for modulations of the
temperature-pressure structure caused by vertical abundance gradients, for the
roAp star 10 Aquilae (HD 176232). We demonstrate that such an analysis can be
used to determine precisely the fundamental atmospheric parameters required for
pulsation modelling. Methods: Average abundances were derived for 56 species.
For Mg, Si, Ca, Cr, Fe, Co, Sr, Pr, and Nd vertical stratification profiles
were empirically derived using the ddafit minimization routine together with
the magnetic spectrum synthesis code synthmag. Model atmospheres were computed
with the LLModels code which accounts for the individual abundances and
stratification of chemical elements. Results: For the final model atmosphere
Teff=7550 K and log g=3.8 were adopted. While Mg, Si, Co and Cr exhibit steep
abundance gradients Ca, Fe and Sr showed much wider abundance gradients between
log tau_5000=-1.5 and 0.5. Elements Mg and Co were found to be the least
stratified, while Ca and Sr showed strong depth variations in abundance of up
to ~ 6 dex.
