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Inlet pressure and pressure drop characteristics for nonwetting mercury flow in single, tapered diameter tube cooled by NaK, and comparison to Lockhart-Martinelli correlation predictions
When a simple model for the relationship between the density-temperature fluctuation correlation and mean values is used, we determine that the rate of change of turbulent intensity can influence directly the accretion rate of droplets. Considerable interest exists in the accretion rate for condensates in nonequilibrium flow with icing and the potential role which reactant accretion can play in nonequilibrium exothermic reactant processes. Turbulence is thought to play an important role in such flows. It has already been experimentally determined that turbulence influences the sizes of droplets in the heterogeneous nucleation of supersaturated vapors. This paper addresses the issue of the possible influence of turbulence on the accretion rate of droplets.
Future manned missions to Mars are expected to greatly increase the space vehicle's size, weight, and heat dissipation requirements. An effective means to reducing both size and weight is to replace single-phase thermal management systems with two-phase counterparts that capitalize upon both latent and sensible heat of the coolant rather than sensible heat alone. This shift is expected to yield orders of magnitude enhancements in flow boiling and condensation heat transfer coefficients. A major challenge to this shift is a lack of reliable tools for accurate prediction of two-phase pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient in reduced gravity. Developing such tools will require a sophisticated experimental facility to enable investigators to perform both flow boiling and condensation experiments in microgravity in pursuit of reliable databases. This study will discuss the development of the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) for the International Space Station (ISS), which was initiated in 2012 in collaboration between Purdue University and NASA Glenn Research Center. This facility was recently tested in parabolic flight to acquire condensation data for FC-72 in microgravity, aided by high-speed video analysis of interfacial structure of the condensation film. The condensation is achieved by rejecting heat to a counter flow of water, and experiments were performed at different mass velocities of FC-72 and water and different FC-72 inlet qualities. It is shown that the film flow varies from smooth-laminar to wavy-laminar and ultimately turbulent with increasing FC-72 mass velocity. The heat transfer coefficient is highest near the inlet of the condensation tube, where the film is thinnest, and decreases monotonically along the tube, except for high FC-72 mass velocities, where the heat transfer coefficient is enhanced downstream. This enhancement is attributed to both turbulence and increased interfacial waviness. One-ge correlations are shown to predict the average condensation heat transfer coefficient with varying degrees of success, and a recent correlation is identified for its superior predictive capability, evidenced by a mean absolute error of 21.7%.
Brown and Sonin's (1989) correlation is used to predict the condensation rate in three different systems and the results are compared with experimental data. These systems are: (1) a cylindrical system with turbulent mixing provided by an axial submerged jet, (2) a channel flow with grid-induced turbulence, and (3) a swirling film flow in a cylinder. The first and third system are of interest for space applications. While all the present data are from ground-based laboratory tests, the comparisons are restricted to conditions of low Richardson number, where the local condensation rate per unit area at the liquid surface is not affected by buoyancy effects.
Large SiC particles extracted from acid-insoluble residues of carbonaceous chondrites are isotopically anomalous in both silicon and carbon and contain isotopically extreme noble gases. These particles are thought to have originated in mass outflows from red giant stars and to have existed in the interstellar medium at the time the solar system formed from an interstellar cloud. Calculations show that the silicon isotope correlations in those large SiC particles can be generated only in the most massive carbon stars. Consequently, the almost pure Ne-22 in those particles must be interpreted as the condensation of radioactive Na-22 in the particles as they flowed away from the stars. The Na-22 is produced through proton capture by Ne-21 at the base of the surface convection zone. Ne-22 does not exist abundantly in helium shells hot enough to burn magnesium, which is necessary to establish the measured silicon isotopic composition.
There are many papers on describing a LHP as an overall system, but few detail on the condenser section of a loop heat pipe. The DeCoM (Deepak Condenser Model) method utilizes user set initial parameters in-order to simulate a condenser by calculating the interactions between the fluid and the wall. Equations are derived for two sections of the condenser: a two-phase section and a subcooled (liquid) section. All Equations are based upon the conservation of energy theory, from which fluid temperature, and fluid quality values are solved. In order to solve for the heat transfer value, between fluid and the wall in two phase section, the Lockhart-Martinelli correlation method was implemented as a solution approach. For Liquid phase, the Reynolds number was used in-order to differentiate the flow state, from either turbulent or laminar, and Nusselt number was used to solve for the film coefficient. To represent these calculations for both sections a flow chart is presented in order to display the execution process of DeCoM. The benefit of DeCoM is that it is capable of performing preliminary analysis without requiring a license and without much of users knowledge on condensers.
A refrigerator/freezer has been designed with an oil-free compressor to provide an economical two-phase flow system for heat transfer. A computer simulation has been done for the condenser and evaporator to determine the design parameters, such as length, diameter, and flow regimes, for different refrigerants and load requirements. A large Reynolds number was considered to ensure annular flow (in order to maximize heat transfer coefficients) and large Froude number. The simulation was correlated with the test data of a vapor compression refrigerator/freezer flown on STS-4 (which provided information on vapor compression in a zero-gravity environment). The two-phase system will be used for the Spacelab mission SLS-1 and can be used in future spacecraft and high-speed aircraft, where weight, volume, and power requirements are critical.
Since 2011, researchers from Purdue University and NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) have been collaborating to investigate the effects of gravity on several aspects of flow boiling and flow condensation. This massive research endeavor, termed the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE), has culminated in development of NASA’s largest and most complex facility for investigation of two-phase fluid physics onboard the ISS. FBCE consists of two separate studies: flow boiling, using the Flow Boiling Module (FBM), and flow condensation, using the Condensation Module for Heat Transfer Measurements (CM-HT); this presentation concerns the FBM portion of FBCE. Fitted with FBM, FBCE was launched to the ISS in August 2021 and experiments were successfully performed starting in February 2022 to amass a large microgravity-flow-boiling database supported by extensive visualization of interfacial behavior using high-speed video. Based on FBCE experiments performed previously in Earth gravity and parabolic flight, along with the new ISS data, several empirical correlations, theoretical models, and CFD models have been developed, enabling the prediction of crucial flow boiling parameters, including heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux (CHF). These predictive tools, which will be summarized in this presentation, are expected to serve as foundation for design of future space systems involving flow boiling.
Deepak Condenser Model (DeCoM) was validated in a two-step process. The first step validated DeCoM/TTH/FloCAD against a simplified 1D (1D fluid flow and 1D heat flow) scenario. Through this simplification the fluid calculations were simple enough that the results were comparable to hand calculations. Once a method was compared against 1D case, the next step was the verification against a 2D test case. 2D is only for heat flow, while the fluid flow is still 1D. The test data was obtained from the project Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) which performed a Looped Heat Pipe (LHP) test and contained necessary condenser information; such as a test point and condenser configuration. From the GLAS LHP test report, the construction of the LHP condenser and correlation was roughly possible. The assumptions and limitations are discussed, within this paper, of the 2D correlation. The success of DeCoM is illustrated by the results after correlation to the test data. Results show the differences between the model and the test setup, as well as explaining the probable cause for the differences; another set of results were produced after taking into account these differences, such as parasitic heat leak. Substantial effort has been made in listing the possibilities to further develop DECOM, thus to make it more reliable, user-friendly, and better integrated with generic SINDA models. The comparison of DeCoM to FloCAD and TTH LHP should not be taken as a definite answer to choosing DeCoM as a condenser modeler, rather as an alternate to obtaining preliminary results without the complexity of TTH LHP and license of FloCAD.
The results are described of an experimental program which studied the performance of various no-vent fill techniques for tank-to-tank liquid transfer. The tests were performed using a cryogen simulant (Freon-114) and a test bed consisting of a multiple tank/plumbing network that enabled studies of a variety of different inlet flow and active mixing regimes. Several results and conclusions were drawn from the 26 transfer experiments comprising the program. Most notable was the significant improvement in fill performance (i.e., minimized fill time and maximized fill fraction) with increased agitation of the liquid surface. Another was the close correlation between measured condensation rates and those predicted by recent theories which express condensation as a function of turbulent eddy effects on the liquid surface. In most cases, test data exhibited strong agreement with an analytical model which accounts for tank heat transfer and thermodynamics in a 1 g environment.
The results are described of an experimental program which studied the performance of various no-vent fill techniques for tank-to-tank liquid transfer. The tests were performed using a cryogen simulant (Freon-114) and a test bed consisting of a multiple tank/plumbing network that enabled studies of a variety of different inlet flow and active mixing regimes. Several results and conclusions were drawn from the 26 transfer experiments comprising the program. Most notable was the significant improvement in fill performance (i.e., minimized fill time and maximized fill fraction) with increased agitation of the liquid surface. Another was the close correlation between measured condensation rates and those predicted by recent theories which express condensation as a function of turbulent eddy effects on the liquid surface. In most cases, test data exhibited strong agreement with an analytical model which accounts for tank heat transfer and thermodynamics in a 1 g environment.
A reduced dynamical model describing temperature stratification effects driven by natural convection in a liquid hydrogen cryogenic fuel tank has been developed. It accounts for cryogenic propellant loading, storage, and unloading in the conditions of normal, increased, and micro- gravity. The model involves multiple horizontal control volumes in both liquid and ullage spaces. Temperature and velocity boundary layers at the tank walls are taken into account by using correlation relations. Heat exchange involving the tank wall is considered by means of the lumped-parameter method. By employing basic conservation laws, the model takes into consideration the major multi-phase mass and energy exchange processes involved, such as condensation-evaporation of the hydrogen, as well as flows of hydrogen liquid and vapor in the presence of pressurizing helium gas. The model involves a liquid hydrogen feed line and a tank ullage vent valve for pressure control. The temperature stratification effects are investigated, including in the presence of vent valve oscillations. A simulation of temperature stratification effects in a generic cryogenic tank has been implemented in Matlab and results are presented for various tank conditions.
Results are presented from more than 1500 hours of testing on a liquid hydrogen thermal conditioning unit. Test parameters included: mixer and vent flow rates; tank size; ullage volume; pressurant gas; pressurant temperature; pressure level; and heat rate. Gaseous hydrogen and helium were used as pressurants. Analytical models were developed to correlate the test data and relate the performance to that anticipated in zero gravity. Experimental and theoretical results are presented which relate the variables controlling vapor condensation at a moving interface.
Experiments were performed aboard the NASA-JSC KC-135 aircraft to study the effect of reduced gravity on two-phase (liquid/vapor) flow and condensation. A prototype two-phase thermal management system for a large spacecraft was tested. Both visual observation and photography of the flow regimes were made. Ground test simulations of the KC-135 flight tests were conducted for comparison purposes. Two-phase pressure drops were predictable by the Heat Transfer Research Institute (HTRI) method, or the Friedel correlation.
Internal flow of pure vapor experiencing film condesation on the walls of a straight duct is studied. The commonly occuring case of turbulent (or laminar) vapor flow in the core and laminar flow of the liquid condensate-with or without waves on the interface-is emphasized. We propose and implement a new first principle methodolgy which model interfacial shear with the help of reliable experimental data on heat transfer rates. Other details of the flow are predicted with the help of this model. These predictions are shown to be in agreement with relevant experimental data. Correlations for film thickness and heat transfer rates are also given.
Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of axial jet-induced mixing on the pressure reduction of a thermally stratified liquid hydrogen tank. The tank was nearly cylindrical, having a volume of about 0.144 cu m with 0.559 m in diameter and 0.711 m long. A mixer/pump unit, which had a jet nozzle outlet of 0.0221 m in diameter was located 0.178 m from the tank bottom and was installed inside the tank to generate the axial jet mixing and tank fluid circulation. The liquid fill and jet flow rate ranged from 42 to 85 percent (by volume) and 0.409 to 2.43 cu m/hr, respectively. Mixing tests began with the tank pressure ranging from 187.5 to 238.5 kPa at which the thermal stratification results in 4.9 to 6.2 K liquid sub cooling. The mixing time and transient vapor condensation rate at the liquid-vapor interface are determined. Two mixing time correlations, based on the thermal equilibrium and pressure equilibrium, are developed. Both mixing time correlations are expressed as functions of system and buoyancy parameters and compared well with other experimental data. The steady state condensation rate correlation of Sonin et al. based on steam-water data is modified and expressed as a function of jet subcooling. The limited liquid hydrogen data of the present study shows that the modified steady state condensation rate correlation may be used to predict the transient condensation rate in a mixing process if the instantaneous values of jet sub cooling and turbulence intensity at the interface are employed.
Elevations from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) have been used to construct a precise topographic map of the martian north polar region. The northern ice cap has a maximum elevation of 3 kilometers above its surroundings but lies within a 5-kilometer-deep hemispheric depression that is contiguous with the area into which most outflow channels emptied. Polar cap topography displays evidence of modification by ablation, flow, and wind and is consistent with a primarily H2O composition. Correlation of topography with images suggests that the cap was more spatially extensive in the past. The cap volume of 1.2 x 10(6) to 1.7 x 10(6) cubic kilometers is about half that of the Greenland ice cap. Clouds observed over the polar cap are likely composed of CO2 that condensed out of the atmosphere during northern hemisphere winter. Many clouds exhibit dynamical structure likely caused by the interaction of propagating wave fronts with surface topography.
Over the past few decades NASA has been developing technology to produce cryogenic propellants on the surfaces of the Moon or Mars. In-situ propellant production reduces the amount of propellants needed to be taken to Moon/Mars and ultimately reduces mission cost. Utilizing Lunar/Martian resources, the produced gases are liquefied and stored prior to use on the ascent vehicle. This paper presents a model for the liquefaction process of gaseous propellants in a cryogenically refrigerated tank. The tank is cylindrical with elliptical top and bottom domes. A transient model is developed based on the mass and energy conservation principles and wall-gas and liquid-gas interfacial mass and heat transfer correlations. The model is incorporated into the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP), an MSFC in-house general-purpose computer program for flow network analysis. Description of the model and comparison of predicted results with available test data is presented.