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Liu, C. K.

Publications and source records attributed to Liu, C. K..

10 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

Sizing an emergency venting system for a cryogenic dewar

If the vacuum vessel that insulates a cryogenic dewar for a spaceborne experiment prior to launch is damaged, air will leak into the vacuum insulation space. As the sudden heat load causes the pressure to rise in the dewar, a safety disk in the emergency vent line will burst at the design pressure differential to allow vaporized cryogenic fluid to escape. The emergency vent line should be sized such that sufficient gaseous cryogen will be vented to keep the pressure inside the dewar below the design limit. On the other hand, the line should not be so large as to impose an unnecessary heat load on the dewar filled with cryogenic fluid. A vent-line computer program was generated to compute the maximum flow rate allowed for a proposed vent-line system. Parametric studies have been carried out for different burst disk pressure differentials, liquid cryogen ullage, and vent-line sizes.

Liu, C. K.↗
NASA NTRS1985

SIRTF Telescope Instrument Changeout and Cryogen Replenishment (STICCR) Study

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) is a long-life cryogenically cooled space-based telescope for infrared astronomy from 2 to 700 micrometers. SIRTF is currently under study by NASA-ARC (Reference AP) and planned for launch in approximately the mid 1990s. SIRTF will operate as a multiuser facility, initially carrying three instruments at the focal plane. It will be cooled to below 2 K by superfluid liquid helium to achieve radiometric sensitivity limited only by the statistical fluctuations in the natural infrared background radiation over most of its spectral range. The lifetime of the mission will be limited by the lifetime of the liquid helium supply, and baseline is currently to be 2 years. The telescope changes required to allow in-space replenishment of the 4,000-L superfluid helium tank was investigated. A preliminary design for the space services equipment was also developed. The impacts of basing the equipment and servicing on the space station were investigated. Space replenishment and changeout of instruments required changes to the telescope design. Preliminary concepts are presented.

Nast, T. C.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Kinetics data for diffusion of outgas species from RTV 560

A detailed analytical and experimental study was made of the outgassing behavior of RTV 560 silicone rubber. The four outgas species which predominate in the temperature range of 285 K to 425 K were separately identified. The initial concentration of these species in the parent material and their bulk volatilities were determined. The diffusion coefficients and activation energy for diffusion of the two major species were deduced from outgassing rate data. It is shown that by using these data in a diffusion theory model, the outgassing rates of these major species can be predicted for arbitrary geometry and any temperature within the range studied.

Liu, C. K.↗
NASA NTRS1976

The role of fracture mechanics in the design of fuel tanks in space vehicles

With special reference to design of fuel tanks in space vehicles, the principles of fracture mechanics are reviewed. An approximate but extremely simple relationship is derived among the operating stress level, the length of crack, and the number of cycles of failure. Any one of the variables can be computed approximately from the knowledge of the other two, if the loading schedule (mission of the tank) is not greatly altered. Two sample examples illustrating the procedures of determining the allowable safe operating stress corresponding to a set of assumed loading schedule are included. The selection of sample examples is limited by the relatively meager available data on the candidate material for various stress ratios in the cycling.

Denton, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Double time lag combustion instability model for bipropellant rocket engines

A bipropellant stability model is presented in which feed system inertance and capacitance are treated along with injection pressure drop and distinctly different propellant time lags. The model is essentially an extension of Crocco's and Cheng's monopropellant model to the bipropellant case assuming that the feed system inertance and capacitance along with the resistance are located at the injector. The neutral stability boundaries are computed in terms of these parameters to demonstrate the interaction among them.

Liu, C. K.↗