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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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NASA NTRS2001

Cryogenic Propellant Long-Term Storage With Zero Boil-Off

Significant boil-off losses from cryogenic propellant storage systems in long-duration space mission applications result in additional propellant and larger tanks. The potential propellant mass loss reductions with the Zero Boil-off (ZBO) concept are substantial; therefore, further exploration through technology programs has been initiated within NASA. A large-scale demonstration of the ZBO concept has been devised utilizing the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Multipurpose Hydrogen Test Bed (MHTB) along with a cryo-cooler unit. The ZBO concept consists of an active cryo-cooling system integrated with traditional passive thermal insulation. The cryo-cooler is interfaced with the MHTB and spraybar recirculation/mixer system in a manner that enables thermal energy removal at a rate that equals the total tank heat leak. The liquid hydrogen (LH2) is withdrawn from the tank, passed through a heat exchanger, and then the chilled liquid is sprayed back into the tank through a spraybar. The test series will be performed over a 20-30 day period. Tests will be conducted at multiple fill levels to demonstrate concept viability and to provide benchmark data to be used in analytical model development. In this paper the test set-up and test procedures are presented.

Hedayat, Ali↗
NASA NTRS2001

Cryogenic Propellant Long-term Storage With Zero Boil-off

Significant boil-off losses of cryogenic propellant storage systems in long-duration space mission applications result in additional propellant and large tanks. The zero boil-off (ZBO) concept consists of an active cryo-cooling system integrated with traditional passive thermal insulation. The potential mass reductions with the ZBO concept are Substantial; therefore, further exploration through technology programs has been initiated within NASA. A large-scale demonstration of the ZBO concept has been devised utilizing the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Multipurpose Hydrogen Test Bed (MHTB) along with a cryo-cooler unit. The cryo-cooler with the MHTB and spraybar recirculation/mixer system in a manner that enables thermal energy removal at a rate that equals the total tank heat leak. The liquid hydrogen is withdrawn from the tank, passed through a heat exchanger, and then the chilled liquid is sprayed back into the tank through a spraybar. The test series will be performed over a 30-40 day period. Tests will be conducted at multiple fill levels and various mixer operational cycles to demonstrate concept viability and to provide benchmark data to be used in analytical model development. In this paper. analytical models for heat flows through the MHTB tank, cryo-cooler performance. and spraybar performance will be presented.

Hedayat, A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Recent Ground Hold and Rapid Depressurization Testing of Multilayer Systems

In the development of flight insulation systems for large cryogenic orbital storage (spray on foam and multilayer insulation), testing need include all environments that are experienced during flight. While large efforts have been expended on studying, bounding, and modeling the orbital performance of the insulation systems, little effort has been expended on the ground hold and ascent phases of a mission. Historical cryogenic in-space systems that have flown have been able to ignore these phases of flight due to the insulation system being within a vacuum jacket. In the development phase of the Nuclear Mars Vehicle and the Shuttle Nuclear Vehicle, several insulation systems were evaluated for the full mission cycle. Since that time there had been minimal work on these phases of flight until the Constellation program began investigating cryogenic service modules and long duration upper stages. With the inception of the Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Technology Demonstration Mission, a specific need was seen for the data and as such, several tests were added to the Cryogenic Boil-off Reduction System liquid hydrogen test matrix to provide more data on a insulation system. Testing was attempted with both gaseous nitrogen (GN2) and gaseous helium (GHe) backfills. The initial tests with nitrogen backfill were not successfully completed due to nitrogen liquefaction and solidification preventing the rapid pumpdown of the vacuum chamber. Subsequent helium backfill tests were successful and showed minimal degradation. The results are compared to the historical data.

Space Environment Simulation↗
NASA NTRS1956

Coke Deposition and Smoke Formation in Turbojet Engines

In the early development of jet engines, it was occasionally found that excessive amounts of coke or other carbonaceous deposits were formed in the combustion chamber. Sometimes a considerable amount of smoke was noted in the-exhaust gases. Excessive coke deposits may adversely affect jet-engine performance in several ways. The formation of excessive amounts of coke on or just downstream of a fuel nozzle (figs. 116(a) and (b)) changes the fuel-spray pattern and possibly affects combustor life and performance. Similar effects on performance can result from the deposition of coke on primary-air entry ports (fig. 116(c)). Sea-level or altitude starting may be impaired by the deposition of coke on spark-plug electrodes (fig. 116(b)), deposits either grounding the electrodes completely or causing the spark to occur at positions other than the intended gap. For some time it was thought that large deposits of coke in turbojet combustion chambers (fig. 116(a)) might break away and damage turbine blades; however, experience has indicated that for metal blades this problem is insignificant. (Cermet turbine blades may be damaged by loose coke deposits.) Finally, the deposition of coke may cause high-temperature areas, which promote liner warping and cracking (fig. 116(d)) from excessive temperature gradients and variations in thermal-expansion rates. Smoke in the exhaust gases does not generally impair engine performance but may be undesirable from a tactical or a nuisance standpoint. Appendix B of reference 1 and references 2 to 4 present data obtained from full-scale engines operated on test stands and from flight tests that indicate some effects on performance caused by coke deposits and smoke. Some information about the mechanism of coke formation is given in reference 5 and chapter IX. The data indicate that (1) high-boiling fuel residuals and partly polymerized products may be mixed with a large amount of smoke formed in the gas phase to account for the consistency, structure, and chemical composition of the soft coke in the dome and (2) the hard deposits on the liner are similar to petroleum coke and may result from the liquid-phase thermal cracking of the fuel. During the early development period of jet engines, it was noted that the excessive coke deposits and exhaust smoke were generally obtained when fuel-oil-type fuels were used. Engines using gasoline-type fuels were relatively free from the deposits and smoke. These results indicated that some type of quality control would be needed in fuel specifications. Also noted was the effect of engine operating conditions on coke deposition. It is possible that, even with a clean-burning fuel, an excessive amount of coke could be formed at some operating conditions. In this case, combustor redesign could possibly reduce the coke to a tolerable level. This chapter is a summary of the various coke-deposition and exhaust-smoke problems connected- with the turbojet combustor. Included are (1) the effect of coke deposition on combustor life or durability and performance; (2) the effect of combustor design, operating conditions, inlet variables, and fuel characteristics on coke deposition; (3) elimination of coke deposits; (4) the effect of operating conditions and fuel characteristics on formation of exhaust smoke; and (5) various bench test methods proposed for determining and controlling fuel quality.

Hibbard, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Modeling of a Two-Phase Jet Pump with Phase Change, Shocks and Temperature-Dependent Properties

One of the primary motivations behind this work is the attempt to understand the physics of a two-phase jet pump which constitutes part of a flow boiling test facility at NASA-Marshall. The flow boiling apparatus is intended to provide data necessary to design highly efficient two-phase thermal control systems for aerospace applications. The facility will also be capable of testing alternative refrigerants and evaluate their performance using various heat exchangers with enhanced surfaces. The test facility is also intended for use in evaluating single-phase performance of systems currently using CFC refrigerants. Literature dealing with jet pumps is abundant and covers a very wide array of application areas. Example application areas include vacuum pumps which are used in the food industry, power station work, and the chemical industry; ejector systems which have applications in the aircraft industry as cabin ventilators and for purposes of jet thrust augmentation; jet pumps which are used in the oil industry for oil well pumping; and steam-jet ejector refrigeration, to just name a few. Examples of work relevant to this investigation includes those of Fairuzov and Bredikhin (1995). While past researchers have been able to model the two-phase flow jet pump using the one-dimensional assumption with no shock waves and no phase change, there is no research known to the author apart from that of Anand (1992) who was able to account for condensation shocks. Thus, one of the objectives of this work is to model the dynamics of fluid interaction between a two-phase primary fluid and a subcooled liquid secondary fluid which is being injected employing atomizing spray injectors. The model developed accounts for phase transformations due to expansion, compression, and mixing. It also accounts for shock waves developing in the different parts of the jet pump as well as temperature and pressure dependencies of the fluid properties for both the primary two-phase mixture and the secondary subcooled liquid. The research effort on which this document partly reports described a relatively simple model capable of describing the performance of a two-phase flow jet pump. The model is based on the isentropic homogeneous expansion/compression hypothesis and is capable of fully incorporating the effects of shocks in both the mixing chamber and the throat/diffuser parts of the pump. The physical system chosen is identical to that experimentally tested by Fairuzov and Bredikhin (1995) and should therefore be relatively easy to validate.

Sherif, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Liquid Oxygen Thermodynamic Vent System Testing with Helium Pressurization

This report presents the results of several thermodynamic vent system (TVS) tests with liquid oxygen plus a test with liquid nitrogen. In all tests, the liquid was heated above its normal boiling point to 111 K for oxygen and 100 K for nitrogen. The elevated temperature was representative of tank conditions for a candidate lunar lander ascent stage. An initial test series was conducted with saturated oxygen liquid and vapor at 0.6 MPa. The initial series was followed by tests where the test tank was pressurized with gaseous helium to 1.4 to 1.6 MPa. For these tests, the helium mole fraction in the ullage was quite high, about 0.57 to 0.62. TVS behavior is different when helium is present than when helium is absent. The tank pressure becomes the sum of the vapor pressure and the partial pressure of helium. Therefore, tank pressure depends not only on temperature, as is the case for a pure liquid-vapor system, but also on helium density (i.e., the mass of helium divided by the ullage volume). Thus, properly controlling TVS operation is more challenging with helium pressurization than without helium pressurization. When helium was present, the liquid temperature would rise with each successive TVS cycle if tank pressure was kept within a constant control band. Alternatively, if the liquid temperature was maintained within a constant TVS control band, the tank pressure would drop with each TVS cycle. The final test series, which was conducted with liquid nitrogen pressurized with helium, demonstrated simultaneous pressure and temperature control during TVS operation. The simultaneous control was achieved by systematic injection of additional helium during each TVS cycle. Adding helium maintained the helium partial pressure as the liquid volume decreased because of TVS operation. The TVS demonstrations with liquid oxygen pressurized with helium were conducted with three different fluid-mixer configurations-a submerged axial jet mixer, a pair of spray hoops in the tank ullage, and combined use of the axial jet and spray hoops. A submerged liquid pump and compact heat exchanger located inside the test tank were used with all the mixer configurations. The initial series without helium and the final series with liquid nitrogen both used the axial jet mixer. The axial jet configuration successfully demonstrated the ability to control tank pressure; but in the normal-gravity environment, the temperature in the upper tank region (ullage and unwetted wall) was not controlled. The spray hoops and axial jet combination also successfully demonstrated pressure control as well as temperature control of the entire tank and contents. The spray-hoops-only configuration was not expected to be a reliable means of tank mixing because there was no direct means to produce liquid circulation. However, surprisingly good results also were obtained with the sprayhoops- only configuration (i.e., performance metrics such as cycle-averaged vent flowrate were similar to those obtained with the other configurations). A simple thermodynamic model was developed that correctly predicted the TVS behavior (temperature rise or pressure drop per TVS cycle) when helium was present in the ullage. The model predictions were correlated over a range of input parameters. The correlations show that temperature rise or pressure drop per cycle was proportional to both helium mole fraction and tank heat input. The response also depended on the tank fill fraction: the temperature rise or pressure drop (per TVS cycle) increased as the ullage volume decreased.

Thermodynamic vent system↗
NASA NTRS2006

Porous Media Approach for Modeling Closed Cell Foam

In order to minimize boil off of the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen and to prevent the formation of ice on its exterior surface, the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) is insulated using various low-density, closed-cell polymeric foams. Improved analysis methods for these foam materials are needed to predict the foam structural response and to help identify the foam fracture behavior in order to help minimize foam shedding occurrences. This presentation describes a continuum based approach to modeling the foam thermo-mechanical behavior that accounts for the cellular nature of the material and explicitly addresses the effect of the internal cell gas pressure. A porous media approach is implemented in a finite element frame work to model the mechanical behavior of the closed cell foam. The ABAQUS general purpose finite element program is used to simulate the continuum behavior of the foam. The soil mechanics element is implemented to account for the cell internal pressure and its effect on the stress and strain fields. The pressure variation inside the closed cells is calculated using the ideal gas laws. The soil mechanics element is compatible with an orthotropic materials model to capture the different behavior between the rise and in-plane directions of the foam. The porous media approach is applied to model the foam thermal strain and calculate the foam effective coefficient of thermal expansion. The calculated foam coefficients of thermal expansion were able to simulate the measured thermal strain during heat up from cryogenic temperature to room temperature in vacuum. The porous media approach was applied to an insulated substrate with one inch foam and compared to a simple elastic solution without pore pressure. The porous media approach is also applied to model the foam mechanical behavior during subscale laboratory experiments. In this test, a foam layer sprayed on a metal substrate is subjected to a temperature variation while the metal substrate is stretched to simulate the structural response of the tank during operation. The thermal expansion mismatch between the foam and the metal substrate and the thermal gradient in the foam layer causes high tensile stresses near the metal/foam interface that can lead to delamination.

Ghosn, Louis J.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Passive Cooling in Aerogel-Based Insulation Systems for Liquid Hydrogen Upper Stage Launch Vehicle Tanks

Spray-On Foam Insulation (SOFI) is typically used to protect the windward-facing side of flight tanks for space launch vehicle liquid hydrogen (LH2) stages. SOFI is an excellent insulator in ambient pressure environments, however, its performance pales in comparison to reflective-type systems such as Multi-Layer Insulation in the thermal radiation dominated vacuum environment of space. If a windward insulation system employing radiation shields could be devised to replace or supplement SOFI, the on-orbit heat load could be drastically reduced, and the residual propellants could then be used to facilitate secondary missions. Such insulation systems, utilizing aerogel blanket insulation, have been explored by the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Owing to its nano-porous structure, aerogel is an excellent adsorbent as well as an insulator at cryogenic temperatures and will readily uptake condensable background gasses such as air when protecting a surface near LH2 temperatures. When an adsorbed blanket is rapidly exposed to a vacuum, such as during the ascent of a rocket, it will release the background gas, producing a passive cooling effect that could potentially reduce or eliminate the heat load on the propellant tank for a time. This work discusses the setup and results of a test program carried out to determine the effectiveness and impact of this cooling effect as it pertains to LH2 upper stage tanks. A vertical-cylindrical liquid nitrogen (LN2) calorimeter test instrument acted as the upper stage analog. The cold-mass was wrapped with two layers of 10 mm thick aerogel blanket material, with and without aluminum heat shields depending on the test, and interspersed with numerous thermocouple temperature sensors. Gaseous argon was used as a stand-in for air as the condensable background gas. The test procedure mimicked vehicle cryo-loading/stabilization, and ascent phases, with the ascent phase accomplished using parallel vacuum pumps. Results show that the desorption cooling effect was enough to not only eliminate the heat load on the LN2 cold-mass entirely, but further refrigerated the liquid below its boiling point.

A.M. Swanger↗