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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1978

A numerical study of capillary stability in a circular cylindrical container with a concave spheroidal bottom

The paper describes a theoretical investigation of the stability under gravitational and surface forces of a liquid in a circular cylindrical container with a concave spheroidal bottom for the case in which the volume of the liquid is sufficiently small so that the bottom is not covered completely. The gravitational field is assumed to be directed along the symmetry axis of the container, and for a specific container shape the critical Bond number is calculated as a function of liquid volume for contact angles of gamma = 0, 1, 2, and 4 deg. For gamma = 0 deg, some critical equilibrium configurations and corresponding perturbation modes are presented.

Concus, P.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Performance of a capillary propellant management device with hydrazine

The propellant management device that was successfully used in the Viking Orbiter spacecraft was selected for the main propulsion system of the Teleoperator Retrieval System (TRS). Due to differences in the missions and different propellants, the operation of this sheet metal vane device required reverification for the TRS application. An analytical investigation was performed considering the adverse acceleration environment and the high contract angle of the hydrazine propellant. Drop tower tests demonstrated that the device would provide propellant acquisition while the TRS was docked with Skylab, but its operation would have to be supplemented through propellant settling when free-flying.

Tegart, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Mars - CO2 adsorption and capillary condensation on clays: Significance for volatile storage and atmospheric history

Results on the adsorbate-adsorbent system CO2-nontronite are reported at 230, 196, and 158 deg K, covering the range of subsurface regolith temperature on Mars. A three-part regolith-atmosphere-cap model reveals that cold nontronite, and expanding clays in general, are far better but far more complex CO2 adsorbers than cold pulverized basalt. In addition, the layered terrain, and possibly the adjacent debris mantle, contains about 2% or more by mass of atmosphere-exchangeable CO2 and the total regolith inventory of available adsorbed CO2 is estimated to be 400 g/ sq cm.

Fanale, F. P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Capillary priming characteristics of a dual passage heat pipe in zero-g

Technical improvements of a long life heat rejection system, suitable for long duration high power missions, that can be constructed and deployed in orbit is discussed. A mathematical model is formulated and a computer program developed which describes the transient priming characteristics of a dual passage heat pipe. An experimental test package is described for flight in the KC-135 Zero-g Aircraft, to be used to verify the modeling predictions.

Peterson, G. P.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Study of vapor flow into a capillary acquisition device

An analytical model was developed that prescribes the conditions for vapor flow through the window screen of a start basket. Several original submodels were developed as part of this model. The submodels interrelate such phenomena as the effect of internal evaporation of the liquid, the bubble point change of a screen in the presence of wicking, the conditions for drying out of a screen through a combination of evaporation and pressure difference, the vapor inflow rate across a wet screen as a function of pressure difference, and the effect on wicking of a difference between the static pressure of the liquid reservoir and the surrounding vapor. Most of these interrelations were verified by a series of separate effects tests, which were also used to determine certain empirical constants in the models. The equations of the model were solved numerically for typical start basket designs, and a simplified start basket was constructed to verify the predictions, using both volatile and nonvolatile test liquids. The test results verified the trends predicted by the model.

Dodge, F. T.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Vapor flow into a capillary propellant-acquisition device

An analytical model is described that specifies the conditions needed to cause a flow of vapor through the screens of a start basket. The analytical model is composed of several original submodels that interrelate the evaporation of the liquid in the basket, the bubble-point change of a screen in the presence of wicking, the drying out of a screen through a combination of evaporation and pressure difference, the vapor flow rate across a wet screen as a function of pressure difference, and the effect on wicking of a difference between the static pressure of the liquid reservoir and the vapor surrounding the screen. Most of the interrelations were demonstrated by a series of separate-effects tests, which were also used to determine certain empirical constants. The equations of the model were solved numerically for typical start basket designs. A simplified start basket was constructed and tested to verify these predictions, using both volatile and non-volatile liquids. The test results verified the trends predicted by the model.

Dodge, F. T.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A helium-3 refrigerator employing capillary confinement of liquid cryogen

A condensation refrigerator suitable for operation in a zero gravity space environment was constructed. The condensed liquid refrigerant is confined by surface tension inside a porous metal matrix. Helium-4 and helium-3 gases were condensed and held in a copper matrix. Evaporative cooling of confined liquid helium-4 resulted in a temperature of 1.4K. Using a zeolite adsorption pump external to the cryostat, a temperature of 0.6 K was achieved through evaporative cooling of liquid helium-3. The amount of time required for complete evaporation of a controlled mass of liquid helium-4 contained in the copper matrix was measured as a function of the applied background power. For heating powers below 18 mW the measured times are consistent with the normal boiling of the confined volume of liquid refrigerant. At background powers above 18 mW the rapid rise in the temperature of the copper matrix the signature of the absence of confined liquid occurs in a time a factor of two shorter than that expected on the basis of an extrapolation of the low power data.

Ennis, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Capillary rise, wetting layers, and critical phenomena in confined geometry

Interferometric procedures have been used to measure the thickness of the wetting layers of liquid SF6 which intrude between SF6 vapor and the walls of an interferometer. Close to the critical temperature the measurements show that the layers become thicker as the height at which they are observed approaches the height of the bulk liquid-vapor meniscus. The functional form of the thickness increase agrees with the dependence expected from models in which the layers' thicknesses are governed by a competition between gravitational and van der Waals forces. The layers are a factor of three thicker than a simple estimate based on such models. No evidence is found of a transition from three-dimensional critical behavior towards two-dimensional critical behavior in the available temperature and size ranges. This contrasts with the interpretation of experiments in binary liquid mixtures carried out with comparable size and temperature resolution.

Moldover, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Solvability conditions for dendritic growth in the boundary-layer model with capillary anisotropy

This paper is concerned primarily with the development of an analytic approach to the theory of steady-state velocity selection in the boundary-layer model of dendritic solidification. The two-dimensional version of this model with a fourfold crystalline anisotropy alpha in the surface tension is considered. By extending a WKB method introduced in an earlier paper, the alpha dependence of the selected growth rate is determined in the limit of small alpha; and this rate is studied for large alphas in the limit in which the dimensionless undercooling approaches unity. Portions of the paper are devoted to a reinterpretation of the mathematical structure of the solvability condition in problems of this kind.

Langer, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The Stokes force on a droplet in an unbounded fluid medium due to capillary effects

The Stokes force on a fluid droplet is obtained when the droplet is placed in an unbounded fluid medium and motion ensues due to an arbitrary interfacial-tension gradient on the droplet surface. The force, derived here for a spherical droplet, is proportional to the integral of the interfacial-tension gradient over the droplet surface. When the interfacial-tension gradients are caused by temperature or concentration variations, the result for the force may be further specialized when convective transport effects are negligible. In this case, it is possible to express the force in terms of the gradient of the undisturbed temperature (or concentration) field evaluated at the location of the droplet center in a form analogous to Faxen's force law.

Subramanian, R. Shankar↗
NASA NTRS1987

Intrinsic frequency spectra of short gravity-capillary waves obtained from temporal measurements of wave height on a lake

Intrinsic frequency spectra of water waves in the range of 6-17 Hz were obtained as a function of both wind speed and wind stress from point measurements of wave height. In a lake with a limited fetch, there are two types of surface motions causing Doppler shift in the frequencies of short waves: orbital velocity of long waves and surface wind drift. The former was estimated from long-wave amplitude by using a linear wave theory. The error in this estimate is of the order of the long-wave slope, and for this work it is typically 10 percent. The latter was approximated by the friction velocity. The friction velocity could be either taken as 3 percent of the mean wind speed measured at a height of 10 m or obtained from direct measurements of the wind stress. The surface drift velocities obtained by these two approaches were found to be in close agreement. Doppler frequency shift can be corrected in either the frequency or the equivalent spatial domain. The two techniques were found to produce comparable results. Experimental results showed that the spectral energy of short waves rapidly increased in response to increasing winds and jumped up by an order of magnitude when wave breaking occurred.

Atakturk, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A new linearized theory of laminar film condensation of two phase annular flow in a capillary pumped loop

Future large space based facilities, such as Space Station, will require energy management systems capable of transporting tens of kilowatts of heat over a hundred meters or more. This represents better than an order of magnitude improvement over current technology. Two-phase thermal systems are currently being developed to meet this challenge. Condensation heat transfer plays a very important role in this system. The present study attempts an analytic solution to the set of linearized partial differential equations. The axial velocity and temperature functions were found to be Bessel functions which have oscillatory behavior. This result agrees qualitatively with the experimental evidence from tests at both NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and elsewhere.

Hsu, Y. K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Electromagnetic-capillary instabilities of a hollow liquid cylinder - Production of spherical shells under microgravity conditions

An electrical device is proposed for manufacturing spherical shells out of hollow metallic cylinders in a microgravity environment. Such a cylinder is melted by passing a strong axial current through it. The resulting liquid column is unstable to axisymmetric disturbances and breaks up to form hollow spheres after solidification. The stability analysis presented in this paper, which is based on an inviscid magnetohydrodynamic formulation, shows that the size of the spheres may be controlled by varying the strength of the current passed through the column.

Chow, C.-Y.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Enclosed capillary device for low gravity management of He II

To transfer He II in space, a large tank must be drained at low gravity. This paper describes and analyzes an enclosed gallery device designed for collecting and delivering He II to a pump. The device allows most of the liquid to move about in the tank while it maintains a liquid flow to the pump. Only the liquid in the screen-covered gallery channels and in the upper and lower receivers is contained. The device operates by providing surface tension dominated liquid paths from all locations within the tank to the lower receiver, which houses the pump. Since the fluid pressure in the channels may be below the saturated vapor pressure, an analysis of He II cavitation is performed to determine if cavitation will occur. The effect of heat dissipation from the pump is examined to determine if it may result in nucleation of boiling. It is concluded that this enclosed device can meet the requirements for transfer of He II under the predicted adverse accelerations that will be encountered on-orbit.

Frank, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Viscous effects on the capillary instabilities of a hollow liquid cylinder

In a microgravity environment, a hollow cylinder of fluid is unstable to axisymmetric disturbances and breaks up to form hollow spheres. These instabilities are due to the surface tension of the fluid. The linear stability analysis presented in this paper shows that the viscosity of the fluid reduces the instability of the configuration, but that, regardless of its magnitude, it can never completely eliminate the instability.

Harvanek, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1990

Satellite formation in capillary jet breakup

Computations of finite-amplitude, spatially periodic wave growth on a cylindrical jet have been carried out using a boundary integral method. The initial wave growth is in agreement with Rayleigh's linear theory. When followed to completion these waves pinch off large drops separated by smaller satellite drops (spherules) that decrease in size with decreasing wavelength. The computed sizes of both drops and satellites agree with experiment. It is found that satellites will form for all unstable wave numbers. The small satellites that are computed at wave numbers near the critical wave number were not predicted by near-linear analysis but are observed in experimental photographs of jet breakup. Computation of the collapse of elongated satellites shows short waves propagating on their surfaces.

Mansour, Nagi N.↗