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At least 235 records · Page 13

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NASA NTRS1985

Water ball collision

What happens if a stainless steel ball hits a water ball in the weightless space of the Universe? In other words, it was the objective of our experiments in the Space to observe the surface tension of liquid by means of making a solid collide with a liquid. Place a small volume of water between 2 glass sheets to make a thin water membrane: the 2 ass sheets cannot be separated unless an enormous force is applied. Also, fill a cup with water to the brim, place a sheet of paper on top of it, and turn the cup upside down gently: the water inside the cup does not spill out. It is obvious from these phenomena that the surface tension of water is far greater than presumed. On the earth, however, it is impossible in most cases to observe only the surface tension of liquid, because gravity always acts on the surface tension

Kazuo Fujimoto↗

NASA NTRS1990

Investigation of surface water behavior during glaze ice accretion

A series of experimental investigations that focused on isolating the primary factors that control the behavior of unfrozen surface water during glaze ice accretion were conducted. Detailed microvideo observations were made of glaze ice accretions on 2.54 cm diam cylinders in a closed-loop refrigerated wind tunnel. Distinct zones of surface water behavior were observed; a smooth wet zone in the stagnation region with a uniform water film, a rough zone where surface tension effects caused coalescence of surface water into stationary beads, and a zone where surface water ran back as rivulets. The location of the transition from the smooth to the rough zone was found to migrate towards the stagnation point with time. Comparative tests were conducted to study the effect of the substrate thermal and roughness properties on ice accretion. The importance of surface water behavior was evaluated by the addition of a surface tension reducing agent to the icing tunnel water supply, which significantly altered the accreted glaze ice shape. Measurements were made to determine the contact angle behavior of water droplets on ice. A simple multizone modification to current glaze ice accretion models was proposed to include the observed surface roughness behavior.

Hansman, R. John, Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2025

A Geometric Volume of Fluid-Based Multiphase Flow Solver Extension to the Reacting Flow Solver, PeleLM

A new algorithm is presented to simulate multiphase flows with surface tension in a pathway for spray combustion simulation. The algorithm combines capabilities from two open-source packages, including the interface reconstruction library (IRL), a library of computational geometry routines to enable the volume of fluid (VOF) method, and PeleLM, a solver for the reacting Navier-Stokes equations. Additionally, surface tension is implemented using the continuum surface force (CSF) model with an improved height function technique in the volume fraction field. Spurious errors in volume fraction arising from our combined strategy are corrected through a topology-based method that improves both numerical stability and accuracy. Multiple validation simulations are conducted, including (i) translations and rotations of Zalesak's disk, (ii) a stationary circular droplet with surface tension, (iii) an oscillating elliptical droplet, and (iv) three-dimensional deformation of a spherical droplet. Results indicate that the combined scheme retains the favorable properties of each of the component algorithms.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1995

Hydrodynamic Stability of Multicomponent Droplet Gasification in Reduced Gravity

This investigation addresses the problem of hydrodynamic stability of a two-component droplet undergoing spherically-symmetrical gasification. The droplet components are assumed to have characteristic liquid species diffusion times that are large relative to characteristic droplet surface regression times. The problem is formulated as a linear stability analysis, with a goal of predicting when spherically-symmetric droplet gasification can be expected to be hydrodynamically unstable from surface-tension gradients acting along the surface of a droplet which result from perturbations. It is found that for the conditions assumed in this paper (quasisteady gas phase, no initial droplet temperature gradients, diffusion-dominated gasification), surface tension gradients do not play a role in the stability characteristics. In addition, all perturbations are predicted to decay such that droplets were hydrodynamically stable. Conditions are identified, however, that deserve more analysis as they may lead to hydrodynamic instabilities driven by capillary effects.

Aharon, I.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Wind Tunnel Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Transport-type Airfoil in a Simulated Heavy Rain Environment

The effects of simulated heavy rain on the aerodynamic characteristics of an NACA 64-210 airfoil section equipped with leading-and trailing-edge high-lift devices were investigated in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. The model had a chord of 2.5 ft, a span of 8 ft, and was mounted on the tunnel centerline between two large endplates. Aerodynamic measurements in and out of the simulated rain environment were obtained for dynamic pressures of 30 and 50 psf and an angle-of-attack range of 0 to 20 degrees for the cruise configuration. The rain intensity was varied to produce liquid water contents ranging from 16 to 46 gm/cu m. The results obtained for various rain intensity levels and tunnel speeds showed significant losses in maximum lift capability and increases in drag for a given lift as the liquid water content was increased. The results obtained on the landing configuration also indicate a progressive decrease in the angle of attack at which maximum lift occurred and an increase in the slope of the pitching-moment curve as the liquid water content was increased. The sensitivity of test results to the effects of the water surface tension was also investigated. A chemical was introduced into the rain environment that reduced the surface tension of water by a factor of 2. The reduction in the surface tension of water did not significantly alter the level of performance losses for the landing configuration.

Bezos, Gaudy M.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Hydrodynamic Instability in an Extended Landau/Levich Model of Liquid-Propellant Combustion

The classical Landau/Levich models of liquid propellant combustion, which serve as seminal examples of hydrodynamic instability in reactive systems, have been combined and extended to account for a dynamic dependence, absent in the original formulations, of the local burning rate on the local pressure and/or temperature fields. The resulting model admits an extremely rich variety of both hydrodynamic and reactive/diffusive instabilities that can be analyzed in various limiting parameter regimes. In the present work, a formal asymptotic analysis, based on the realistic smallness of the gas-to-liquid density ratio, is developed to investigate the combined effects of gravity, surface tension and viscosity on the hydrodynamic instability of the propagating liquid/gas interface. In particular, a composite asymptotic expression, spanning three distinguished wavenumber regimes, is derived for both cellular and pulsating hydrodynamic neutral stability boundaries A(sub p)(k), where A(sub p) is the pressure sensitivity of the burning rate and k is the disturbance wavenumber. For the case of cellular (Landau) instability, the results demonstrate explicitly the stabilizing effect of gravity on long-wave disturbances, the stabilizing effect of viscosity and surface tension on short-wave perturbations, and the instability associated with intermediate wavenumbers for critical negative values of A(sub p). In the limiting case of weak gravity, it is shown that cellular hydrodynamic instability in this context is a long-wave instability phenomenon, whereas at normal gravity, this instability is first manifested through O(l) wavenumber disturbances. It is also demonstrated that, in the large wavenumber regime, surface tension and both liquid and gas viscosity all produce comparable stabilizing effects in the large-wavenumber regime, thereby providing significant modifications to previous analyses of Landau instability in which one or more of these effects were neglected. In contrast, the pulsating hydrodynamic stability boundary is found to be insensitive to gravitational and surface-tension effects, but is more sensitive to the effects of liquid viscosity, which is a significant stabilizing effect for O(l) and higher wavenumbers. Liquid-propellant combustion is predicted to be stable (i.e., steady and planar) only for a range of negative pressure sensitivities that lie between the two types of hydrodynamic stability boundaries.

Margolis, Stephen B.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Study of bubble behavior in weightlessness (effects of thermal gradient and acoustic stationary wave) (M-16)

The aim of this experiment is to understand how bubbles behave in a thermal gradient and acoustic stationary wave under microgravity. In microgravity, bubble or bubbles in a liquid will not rise upward as they do on Earth but will rest where they are formed because there exists no gravity-induced buoyancy. We are interested in how bubbles move and in the mechanisms which support the movement. We will try two ways to make bubbles migrate. The first experiment concerns behavior of bubbles in a thermal gradient. It is well known than an effect of surface tension which is masked by gravity on the ground becomes dominant in microgravity. The surface tension on the side of the bubble at a lower temperature is stronger than at a higher temperature. The bubble migrates toward the higher temperature side due to the surface tension difference. The migration speed depends on the so-called Marangoni number, which is a function of the temperature difference, the bubble diameter, liquid viscosity, and thermal diffusivity. At present, some experimental data about migration speeds in liquids with very small Marangoni numbers were obtained in space experiments, but cases of large Marangoni number are rarely obtained. In our experiment a couple of bubbles are to be injected into a cell filled with silicon oil, and the temperature gradient is to be made gradually in the cell by a heater and a cooler. We will be able to determine migration speeds in a very wide range of Marangoni numbers, as well as study interactions between the bubbles. We will observe bubble movements affected by hydrodynamical and thermal interactions, the two kinds of interactions which occur simultaneously. These observation data will be useful for analyzing the interactions as well as understanding the behavior of particles or drops in materials processing. The second experiment concerns bubble movement in an acoustic stationary wave. It is known that a bubble in a stationary wave moves toward the node or the loop according to whether its diameter is larger or smaller than that of the main resonant radius. In our experiment fine bubbles will be observed to move according to an acoustic field formed in a cylindrical cell. The existence of bubbles varies the acoustic speed, and the interactive force between bubbles will make the bubble behavior collective and complicated. This experiment will be very useful to development of bubble removable technology as well as to the understanding of bubble behavior.

Azuma, H.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Contact Angle Influence on Geysering Jets in Microgravity Investigated

Microgravity poses many challenges to the designer of spacecraft tanks. Chief among these are the lack of phase separation and the need to supply vapor-free liquid or liquid-free vapor to the spacecraft processes that require fluid. One of the principal problems of phase separation is the creation of liquid jets. A jet can be created by liquid filling, settling of the fluid to one end of the tank, or even closing a valve to stop the liquid flow. Anyone who has seen a fountain knows that jets occur in normal gravity also. However, in normal gravity, the gravity controls and restricts the jet flow. In microgravity, with gravity largely absent, surface tension forces must be used to contain jets. To model this phenomenon, a numerical method that tracks the fluid motion and the surface tension forces is required. Jacqmin has developed a phase model that converts the discrete surface tension force into a barrier function that peaks at the free surface and decays rapidly away. Previous attempts at this formulation were criticized for smearing the interface. This can be overcome by sharpening the phase function, double gridding the fluid function, and using a higher-order solution for the fluid function. The solution of this equation can be rewritten as two coupled Poisson equations that also include the velocity.

Chato, David J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Convection in a two-layer fluid system

Experimental results are presented, and preliminary computations are performed on a system of two immiscible liquid layers with a temperature gradient applied parallel to the interface. The experiments reflect the combined contribution of buoyancy and surface-tension-induced (Marangoni) convection. It is concluded that buoyancy effects appear to be dominant and mask any surface-tension-induced convection present. Numerical computations show significant modification of pure buoyant convection by surface-tension gradients. The results are of interest in connection with the liquid encapsulation of GaAs melts in a microgravity environment.

Prakash, A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Analytic theory for the determination of velocity and stability of bubbles in a Hele-Shaw cell. I - Velocity selection. II - Stability

An asymptotic theory is presented for the determination of velocity and linear stability of a steady symmetric bubble in a Hele-Shaw cell for small surface tension. First the bubble velocity relative to the fluid velocity at infinity is determined for small surface tension by means of a transcendentally small correction to the asymptotic series solution. In addition, a linear stability analysis shows that only the solution branch corresponding to the largest possible bubble velocity for given surface tension is stable, while all the others are unstable.

Tanveer, S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Thermal buoyancy and Marangoni convection in a two fluid layered system - A numerical study

Thermal buoyancy and surface tension driven convection is numerically investigated in a system with two, immiscible fluids. The geometry investigated, has an open cavity configuration with the lighter fluid situated on top of the heavier fluid, forming a stable layered system. The upper fluid meniscus and the interface are assumed to be flat and undeformable in the calculations. The governing equations and boundary/interface conditions are solved by a control volume based finite difference scheme for two pairs of immiscible fluids; the water-hexadecane system and a so called generic system. The steady state calculations show, that dramatically different flows are predicted when the interfacial tension effects are included or excluded from the system model. These differences are particularly appreciable in surface tension dominated flows, that are typical of microgravity situations. Complex flow patterns, with induced secondary flows are noticed in both the fluids. In general, the overall system heat transfer is found to increase with increases in the thermal buoyancy and surface tension effects, but the behavior of the system flow and thermal fields is not easy to characterize, when different combinations of these forces are considered.

Ramachandran, N.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Monte Carlo studies of liquid semiconductor surfaces - Si and Ge

The liquid-vapor interface of Si and Ge, and of Si doped with impurities is studied using the empirical Stillinger-Weber two- and three-body potentials. The surface tension of the pure elements is calculated by use of a direct evaluation of the free energy required to create the surface. For Si, both the surface tension and its temperature derivative are in good agreement with experiment. To within numerical accuracy, the free surfaces of both Si and Ge have a monotonically decreasing density, with a 10-90 percent surface width of about 2.2 A in both cases. When large and small model impurities are introduced into pure liquid Si, they are found in the simulations to migrate, respectively, towards the surface and away from the surface. This behavior is consistent with the interpretation that impurities with atoms larger than Si tend to lower the surface tension.

Wang, Z. Q.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Preliminary design of two Space Shuttle fluid physics experiments

The mid-deck lockers of the STS and the requirements for operating an experiment in this region are described. The design of the surface tension induced convection and the free surface phenomenon experiments use a two locker volume with an experiment unique structure as a housing. A manual mode is developed for the Surface Tension Induced Convection experiment. The fluid is maintained in an accumulator pre-flight. To begin the experiment, a pressurized gas drives the fluid into the experiment container. The fluid is an inert silicone oil and the container material is selected to be comparable. A wound wire heater, located axisymmetrically above the fluid can deliver three wattages to a spot on the fluid surface. These wattages vary from 1-15 watts. Fluid flow is observed through the motion of particles in the fluid. A 5 mw He/Ne laser illuminates the container. Scattered light is recorded by a 35mm camera. The free surface phenomena experiment consists of a trapezoidal cell which is filled from the bottom. The fluid is photographed at high speed using a 35mm camera which incorporated the entire cell length in the field of view. The assembly can incorporate four cells in one flight. For each experiment, an electronics block diagram is provided. A control panel concept is given for the surface induced convection. Both experiments are within the mid-deck locker weight and c-g limits.

Gat, N.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Behavior of fluids in a weightless environment

Fluid behavior in a low-g environment is controlled primarily by surface tension forces. Certain fluid and system characteristics determine the magnitude of these forces for both a free liquid surface and liquid in contact with a solid. These characteristics, including surface tension, wettability or contact angle, system geometry, and the relationships governing their interaction, are discussed. Various aspects of fluid behavior in a low-g environment are then presented. This includes the formation of static interface shapes, oscillation and rotation of drops, coalescence, the formation of foams, tendency for cavitation, and diffusion in liquids which were observed during the Skylab fluid mechanics science demonstrations. Liquid reorientation and capillary pumping to establish equilibrium configurations for various system geometries, observed during various free-fall (drop-tower) low-g tests, are also presented. Several passive low-g fluid storage and transfer systems are discussed. These systems use surface tension forces to control the liquid/vapor interface and provide gas-free liquid transfer and liquid-free vapor venting.

Fester, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Measurement and Control of Oxygen Partial Pressure in an Electrostatic Levitator

Recently the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center electrostatic levitation (ESL) laboratory has been upgraded to include an oxygen control system. This system allows the oxygen partial pressure within the vacuum chamber to be measured and controlled, at elevated temperatures, theoretically in the range from 10(exp -36) to 10(exp 0) bar. The role of active surface agents in liquid metals is fairly well known; however, published surface tension data typically has large scatter, which has been hypothesized to be caused by the presence of oxygen. The surface tension of metals is affected by even a small amount of adsorption of oxygen. It has even been shown that oxygen partial pressures may need to be as low as 10(exp -24) bar to avoid oxidation. While electrostatic levitation is done under high vacuum, oxide films or dissolved oxygen may have significant effects on materials properties, such as surface tension and viscosity. Therefore, the ability to measure and control the oxygen partial pressure within the chamber is highly desirable. The oxygen control system installed at MSFC contains a potentiometric sensor, which measures the oxygen partial pressure, and an oxygen ion pump. In the pump, a pulse-width modulated electric current is applied to yttrium-stabilized zirconia, resulting in oxygen transfer into or out of the system. Also part of the system is a control unit, which consists of temperature controllers for the sensor and pump, PID-based current loop for the ion pump, and a control algorithm. This system can be used to study the effects of oxygen on the thermophysical properties of metals, ceramics, glasses, and alloys. It can also be used to provide more accurate measurements by processing the samples at very low oxygen partial pressures. The oxygen control system will be explained in more detail and an overview of its use and limitations in an electrostatic levitator will be described. Some preliminary measurements have been made, and the results to date will be provided.

SanSoucie, Michael P.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Sharp front tracking with geometric interface reconstruction

Here, this paper presents a novel sharp front-tracking method designed to address limitations in classical front-tracking approaches, specifically their reliance on smooth interpolation kernels and extended stencils for coupling the front and fluid mesh. In contrast, the proposed method employs exclusively sharp, localized interpolation and spreading kernels, restricting the coupling to the interfacial fluid cells–those containing the interface/front. This localized coupling is achieved by integrating a divergence-preserving velocity interpolation method with a piecewise parabolic interface calculation (PPIC) and a polyhedron intersection algorithm to compute the indicator function and local interface curvature. Surface tension is computed using the Continuum Surface Force (CSF) method, maintaining consistency with the sharp representation. Additionally, we propose an efficient local roughness smoothing implementation to account for surface mesh undulations, which is easily applicable to any triangulated surface mesh. Building on our previous work, the primary innovation of this study lies in the localization of the coupling for both the indicator function and surface tension calculations. By reducing the interface thickness on the fluid mesh to a single cell, as opposed to the 4–5 cell spans typical in classical methods, the proposed sharp front-tracking method achieves a highly localized and accurate representation of the interface. This sharper representation mitigates parasitic currents and improves force balancing, making it particularly suitable for scenarios where the interface plays a critical role, such as microfluidics, fluid-fluid interactions, and fluid-structure interactions. The proposed method is comprehensively validated and tested on canonical interfacial flow problems, including stationary and translating Laplace equilibria, oscillating droplets, and rising bubbles. The presented results demonstrate that the sharp front-tracking method significantly outperforms the classical approach in terms of accuracy, stability, and computational efficiency. Notably, parasitic currents are reduced by approximately two orders of magnitude and stable results are obtained for parameter ranges where classical front tracking fails to converge.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2004

Droplet-Surface Impingement Dynamics for Intelligent Spray Design

Spray cooling has high potential in thermal management and life support systems by overcoming the deleterious effect of microgravity upon two-phase heat transfer. In particular spray cooling offers several advantages in heat flux removal that include the following: 1) By maintaining a wetted surface, spray droplets impinge upon a thin fluid film rather than a dry solid surface; 2. Most heat transfer surfaces will not be smooth but rough. Roughness can enhance conductive cooling, aid liquid removal by flow channeling; and 3. Spray momentum can be used to a) substitute for gravity delivering fluid to the surface, b) prevent local dryout and potential thermal runaway and c) facilitate liquid and vapor removal. Yet high momentum results in high We and Re numbers characterizing the individual spray droplets. Beyond an impingement threshold, droplets splash rather than spread. Heat flux declines and spray cooling efficiency can markedly decrease. Accordingly we are investigating droplet impingement upon a) dry solid surfaces, b) fluid films, c) rough surfaces and determining splashing thresholds and relationships for both dry surfaces and those covered by fluid films. We are presently developing engineering correlations delineating the boundary between splashing and non-splashing regions. Determining the splash/non-splash boundary is important for many practical applications. Coating and cooling processes would each benefit from near-term empirical relations and subsequent models. Such demonstrations can guide theoretical development by providing definitive testing of its predictive capabilities. Thus, empirical relations describing the boundary between splash and non-splash are given for drops impinging upon a dry solid surface and upon a thin fluid film covering a similar surface. Analytical simplification of the power laws describing the boundary between the splash and non-splash regions yields insight into the engineering parameters governing the splash and non-splash outcomes of the fluid droplets. The power law correlation is shown separating the splashing versus non-splashing regions as developed for droplets impinging upon a dry solid surface. Splashing upon a dry surface is reasonably described by Ca greater than 0.85, reflecting the competing roles of surface tension and viscosity. The power law correlation is shown separating the splashing versus non-splashing regions as developed for droplets impinging upon a thin fluid film covering the solid surface. Splashing upon a thin fluid film, as described by v (pd/s) greater than 63, is governed by fluid density and surface tension, but is rather independent of viscosity. Finally, the data presented here suggests that a more direct dependence upon the surface tension and viscosity, given a better understanding of their interplay, would allow accurate description of the droplet-surface impacts for more complicated situations involving non-Newtonian fluids, specifically those exhibiting viscoelastic behavior.

Wal, Randy L. Vander↗

NASA NTRS1996

Studies of Two-Phase Flow Dynamics and Heat Transfer at Reduced Gravity Conditions

The ability to predict gas-liquid flow patterns is crucial to the design and operation of two-phase flow systems in the microgravity environment. Flow pattern maps have been developed in this study which show the occurrence of flow patterns as a function of gas and liquid superficial velocities as well as tube diameter, liquid viscosity and surface tension. The results have demonstrated that the location of the bubble-slug transition is affected by the tube diameter for air-water systems and by surface tension, suggesting that turbulence-induced bubble fluctuations and coalescence mechanisms play a role in this transition. The location of the slug-annular transition on the flow pattern maps is largely unaffected by tube diameter, liquid viscosity or surface tension in the ranges tested. Void fraction-based transition criteria were developed which separate the flow patterns on the flow pattern maps with reasonable accuracy. Weber number transition criteria also show promise but further work is needed to improve these models. For annular gas-liquid flows of air-water and air- 50 percent glycerine under reduced gravity conditions, the pressure gradient agrees fairly well with a version of the Lockhart-Martinelli correlation but the measured film thickness deviates from published correlations at lower Reynolds numbers. Nusselt numbers, based on a film thickness obtained from standard normal-gravity correlations, follow the relation, Nu = A Re(sup n) Pr(exp l/3), but more experimental data in a reduced gravity environment are needed to increase the confidence in the estimated constants, A and n. In the slug flow regime, experimental pressure gradient does not correlate well with either the Lockhart-Martinelli or a homogeneous formulation, but does correlate nicely with a formulation based on a two-phase Reynolds number. Comparison with ground-based correlations implies that the heat transfer coefficients are lower at reduced gravity than at normal gravity under the same flow conditions. Nusselt numbers can be correlated in a fashion similar to Chu and Jones.

Witte, Larry C.↗