Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Two-phase systems”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 667 records · Page 37

Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena in a Simulated Reduced Gravity Environment

We describe a ground-based apparatus that allows the cancellation of gravity on a fluid using magnetic forces. The present system was designed for liquid oxygen studies over the range 0.001 - 5 g s. This fluid is an essential component of any flight mission using substantial amounts of liquid propellant, especially manned missions. The apparatus has been used to reduce the hydrostatic compression near the oxygen critical point and to demonstrate inverted phase separation. It could also be used to study pool boiling and two-phase heat transfer in Martian, Lunar or near-zero gravity, as well as phenomena such as Marangoni flow and convective instabilities. These studies would contribute directly to the reliability and optimization of the Moon and Mars flight programs.

Lipa, J.↗

Characterization of Ternary NiTiPt High-Temperature Shape Memory Alloys

Pt additions substituted for Ni in NiTi alloys are known to increase the transformation temperature of the alloy but only at fairly high Pt levels. However, until now only ternary compositions with a very specific stoichiometry, Ni50-xPtxTi50, have been investigated and then only to very limited extent. In order to learn about this potential high-temperature shape memory alloy system, a series of over twenty alloys along and on either side of a line of constant stoichiometry between NiTi and TiPt were arc melted, homogenized, and characterized in terms of their microstructure, transformation temperatures, and hardness. The resulting microstructures were examined by scanning electron microscopy and the phase compositions quantified by energy dispersive spectroscopy."Stoichiometric" compositions along a line of constant stoichiometry between NiTi to TiPt were essentially single phase but by any deviations from a stoichiometry of (Ni,Pt)50Ti50 resulted in the presence of at least two different intermetallic phases, depending on the overall composition of the alloy. Essentially all alloys, whether single or two-phase, still under went a martensitic transformation. It was found that the transformation temperatures were depressed with initial Pt additions but at levels greater than 10 at.% the transformation temperature increased linearly with Pt content. Also, the transformation temperatures were relatively insensitive to alloy stoichiometry within the range of alloys examined. Finally, the dependence of hardness on Pt content for a series of Ni50-xPtxTi50 alloys showed solution softening at low Pt levels, while hardening was observed in ternary alloys containing more than about 10 at.% Pt. On either side of these "stoichiometric" compositions, hardness was also found to increase significantly.

Rios, Orlando↗

Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures Studied on the Space Shuttle

Ostwald ripening, or coarsening, is a process in which large particles in a two-phase mixture grow at the expense of small particles. It is a ubiquitous natural phenomena occurring in the late stages of virtually all phase separation processes. In addition, a large number of commercially important alloys undergo coarsening because they are composed of particles embedded in a matrix. Many of them, such as high-temperature superalloys used for turbine blade materials and low-temperature aluminum alloys, coarsen in the solid state. In addition, many alloys, such as the tungsten-heavy metal systems, coarsen in the solid-liquid state during liquid phase sintering. Numerous theories have been proposed that predict the rate at which the coarsening process occurs and the shape of the particle size distribution. Unfortunately, these theories have never been tested using a system that satisfies all the assumptions of the theory. In an effort to test these theories, NASA studied the coarsening process in a solid-liquid mixture composed of solid tin particles in a liquid lead-tin matrix. On Earth, the solid tin particles float to the surface of the sample, like ice in water. In contrast, in a microgravity environment this does not occur. The microstructures in the ground- and space-processed samples (see the photos) show clearly the effects of gravity on the coarsening process. The STS-83-processed sample (right image) shows nearly spherical uniformly dispersed solid tin particles. In contrast, the identically processed, ground-based sample (left image) shows significant density-driven, nonspherical particles, and because of the higher effective solid volume fraction, a larger particle size after the same coarsening time. The "Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures" (CSLM) experiment was conducted in the Middeck Glovebox facility (MGBX) flown aboard the shuttle in the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1/1R) on STS-83/94. The primary objective of CSLM is to measure the temporal evolution of the solid particles during coarsening.

Caruso, John J.↗

Innovative Multi-Environment, Multimode Thermal Control System

Innovative multi-environment multimode thermal management architecture has been described that is capable of meeting widely varying thermal control requirements of various exploration mission scenarios currently under consideration. The proposed system is capable of operating in a single-phase or two-phase mode rejecting heat to the colder environment, operating in a two-phase mode with heat pump for rejecting heat to a warm environment, as well as using evaporative phasechange cooling for the mission phases where the radiator is incapable of rejecting the required heat. A single fluid loop can be used internal and external to the spacecraft for the acquisition, transport and rejection of heat by the selection of a working fluid that meets NASA safety requirements. Such a system may not be optimal for each individual mode of operation but its ability to function in multiple modes may permit global optimization of the thermal control system. The architecture also allows flexibility in partitioning of components between the various Constellation modules to take advantage of operational requirements in various modes consistent with the mission needs. Preliminary design calculations using R-134 as working fluid show the concept to be feasible to meet the heat rejection requirements that are representative of the Crew Exploration Vehicle and Lunar Access Module for nominal cases. More detailed analyses to establish performance under various modes and environmental conditions are underway.

Singh, Bhim S.↗

Demonstration of Active Combustion Control

The primary objective of this effort was to demonstrate active control of combustion instabilities in a direct-injection gas turbine combustor that accurately simulates engine operating conditions and reproduces an engine-type instability. This report documents the second phase of a two-phase effort. The first phase involved the analysis of an instability observed in a developmental aeroengine and the design of a single-nozzle test rig to replicate that phenomenon. This was successfully completed in 2001 and is documented in the Phase I report. This second phase was directed toward demonstration of active control strategies to mitigate this instability and thereby demonstrate the viability of active control for aircraft engine combustors. This involved development of high-speed actuator technology, testing and analysis of how the actuation system was integrated with the combustion system, control algorithm development, and demonstration testing in the single-nozzle test rig. A 30 percent reduction in the amplitude of the high-frequency (570 Hz) instability was achieved using actuation systems and control algorithms developed within this effort. Even larger reductions were shown with a low-frequency (270 Hz) instability. This represents a unique achievement in the development and practical demonstration of active combustion control systems for gas turbine applications.

Lovett, Jeffrey A.↗

Analytical Approach in DeCoM

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.

Patel, Deepak↗

Testing of a Methane Cryogenic Heat Pipe with a Liquid Trap Turn-Off Feature for use on Space Interferometer Mission (SIM)

Camera cooling for SIM presents three thermal control challenges; stable operation at 163K (110 C), decontamination heating to +20 C, and a long span from the cameras to the radiator. A novel cryogenic cooling system based on a methane heat pipe meets these challenges. The SIM thermal team, with the help of heat pipe vendor ATK, designed and tested a complete, low temperature, cooling system. The system accommodates the two SIM cameras with a double-ended conduction bar, a single methane heat pipe, independent turn-off devices, and a flight-like radiator. The turn ]off devices consist of a liquid trap, for removing the methane from the pipe, and an electrical heater to raise the methane temperature above the critical point thus preventing two-phase operation. This is the first time a cryogenic heat pipe has been tested at JPL and is also the first heat pipe to incorporate the turn-off features. Operation at 163K with a methane heat pipe is an important new thermal control capability for the lab. In addition, the two turn-off technologies enhance the "bag of tricks" available to the JPL thermal community. The successful test program brings this heat pipe to a high level of technology readiness.

cyrogenic heat pipe↗

Temperature Control with Two Parallel Small Loop Heat Pipes for GLM Program

The concept of temperature control of an electronic component using a single Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) is well established for Aerospace applications. Using two LHPs is often desirable for redundancy/reliability reasons or for increasing the overall heat source-sink thermal conductance. This effort elaborates on temperature controlling operation of a thermal system that includes two small ammonia LHPs thermally coupled together at the evaporator end as well as at the condenser end and operating "in parallel". A transient model of the LHP system was developed on the Thermal Desktop (TradeMark) platform to understand some fundamental details of such parallel operation of the two LHPs. Extensive thermal-vacuum testing was conducted with two thermally coupled LHPs operating simultaneously as well as with only one LHP operating at a time. This paper outlines the temperature control procedures for two LHPs operating simultaneously with widely varying sink temperatures. The test data obtained during the thermal-vacuum testing, with both LHPs running simultaneously in comparison with only one LHP operating at a time, are presented with detailed explanations.

0000↗

Adaptable Single Active Loop Thermal Control System (TCS) for Future Space Missions

This presentation will examine the development of a thermal control system (TCS) for future space missions utilizing a single active cooling loop. The system architecture enables the TCS to be reconfigured during the various mission phases to respond, not only to varying heat load, but to heat rejection temperature as well. The system will consist of an accumulator, pump, cold plates (evaporators), condenser radiator, and compressor, in addition to control, bypass and throttling valves. For cold environments, the heat will be rejected by radiation, during which the compressor will be bypassed, reducing the system to a simple pumped loop that, depending on heat load, can operate in either a single-phase liquid mode or two-phase mode. For warmer environments, the pump will be bypassed, enabling the TCS to operate as a heat pump. This presentation will focus on recent findings concerning two-phase flow regimes, pressure drop, and heat transfer coefficient trends in the cabin and avionics micro-channel heat exchangers when using the heat pump mode. Also discussed will be practical implications of using micro-channel evaporators for the heat pump.

two phase heat transfer↗

Capillary Channel Flow (CCF) EU2-02 on the International Space Station (ISS): An Experimental Investigation of Passive Bubble Separations in an Open Capillary Channel

It would be signicantly easier to design fluid systems for spacecraft if the fluid phases behaved similarly to those on earth. In this research an open 15:8 degree wedge-sectioned channel is employed to separate bubbles from a two-phase flow in a microgravity environment. The bubbles appear to rise in the channel and coalesce with the free surface in much the same way as would bubbles in a terrestrial environment, only the combined effects of surface tension, wetting, and conduit geometry replace the role of buoyancy. The host liquid is drawn along the channel by a pump and noncondensible gas bubbles are injected into it near the channel vertex at the channel inlet. Control parameters include bubble volume, bubble frequency, liquid volumetric flow rate, and channel length. The asymmetrically confined bubbles are driven in the cross-flow direction by capillary forces until they at least become inscribed within the section or until they come in contact with the free surface, whereupon they usually coalesce and leave the flow. The merging of bubbles enhances, but does not guarantee, the latter. The experiments are performed aboard the International Space Station as a subset of the Capillary Channel Flow experiments. The flight hardware is commanded remotely and continuously from ground stations during the tests and an extensive array of experiments is conducted identifying numerous bubble flow regimes and regime transitions depending on the ratio and magnitude of the gas and liquid volumetric flow rates. The breadth of the publicly available experiments is conveyed herein primarily by narrative and by regime maps, where transitions are approximated by simple expressions immediately useful for the purposes of design and deeper analysis.

fluid dynamics↗

Lidar-Based Estimates of Above-Ground Biomass in the Continental US and Mexico Using Ground, Airborne, and Satellite Observations

Existing national forest inventory plots, an airborne lidar scanning (ALS) system, and a space profiling lidar system (ICESat-GLAS) are used to generate circa 2005 estimates of total aboveground dry biomass (AGB) in forest strata, by state, in the continental United States (CONUS) and Mexico. The airborne lidar is used to link ground observations of AGB to space lidar measurements. Two sets of models are generated, the first relating ground estimates of AGB to airborne laser scanning (ALS) measurements and the second set relating ALS estimates of AGB (generated using the first model set) to GLAS measurements. GLAS then, is used as a sampling tool within a hybrid estimation framework to generate stratum-, state-, and national-level AGB estimates. A two-phase variance estimator is employed to quantify GLAS sampling variability and, additively, ALS-GLAS model variability in this current, three-phase (ground-ALS-space lidar) study. The model variance component characterizes the variability of the regression coefficients used to predict ALS-based estimates of biomass as a function of GLAS measurements. Three different types of predictive models are considered in CONUS to determine which produced biomass totals closest to ground-based national forest inventory estimates - (1) linear (LIN), (2) linear-no-intercept (LNI), and (3) log-linear. For CONUS at the national level, the GLAS LNI model estimate (23.95 +/- 0.45 Gt AGB), agreed most closely with the US national forest inventory ground estimate, 24.17 +/- 0.06 Gt, i.e., within 1%. The national biomass total based on linear ground-ALS and ALS-GLAS models (25.87 +/- 0.49 Gt) overestimated the national ground-based estimate by 7.5%. The comparable log-linear model result (63.29 +/-1.36 Gt) overestimated ground results by 261%. All three national biomass GLAS estimates, LIN, LNI, and log-linear, are based on 241,718 pulses collected on 230 orbits. The US national forest inventory (ground) estimates are based on 119,414 ground plots. At the US state level, the average absolute value of the deviation of LNI GLAS estimates from the comparable ground estimate of total biomass was 18.8% (range: Oregon,−40.8% to North Dakota, 128.6%). Log-linear models produced gross overestimates in the continental US, i.e., N2.6x, and the use of this model to predict regional biomass using GLAS data in temperate, western hemisphere forests is not appropriate. The best model form, LNI, is used to produce biomass estimates in Mexico. The average biomass density in Mexican forests is 53.10 +/- 0.88 t/ha, and the total biomass for the country, given a total forest area of 688,096 sq km, is 3.65 +/- 0.06 Gt. In Mexico, our GLAS biomass total underestimated a 2005 FAO estimate (4.152 Gt) by 12% and overestimated a 2007/8 radar study's figure (3.06 Gt) by 19%.

Hybrid 3-Phase sampling↗

Challenges and Opportunities in Gen3 Embedded Cooling with High-Quality Microgap Flow

Gen3, Embedded Cooling, promises to revolutionize thermal management of advanced microelectronic systems by eliminating the sequential conductive and interfacial thermal resistances which dominate the present 'remote cooling' paradigm. Single-phase interchip microfluidic flow with high thermal conductivity chips and substrates has been used successfully to cool single transistors dissipating more than 40kW/sq cm, but efficient heat removal from transistor arrays, larger chips, and chip stacks operating at these prodigious heat fluxes would require the use of high vapor fraction (quality), two-phase cooling in intra- and inter-chip microgap channels. The motivation, as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with evaporative embedded cooling in realistic form factors, is the focus of this paper. The paper will begin with a brief review of the history of thermal packaging, reflecting the 70-year 'inward migration' of cooling technology from the computer-room, to the rack, and then to the single chip and multichip module with 'remote' or attached air- and liquid-cooled coldplates. Discussion of the limitations of this approach and recent results from single-phase embedded cooling will follow. This will set the stage for discussion of the development challenges associated with application of this Gen3 thermal management paradigm to commercial semiconductor hardware, including dealing with the effects of channel length, orientation, and manifold-driven centrifugal acceleration on the governing behavior.

microchannel↗

Rewet Temperature Correlations for Liquid-Nitrogen Boiling Pipe Flows Across Varying Flow Conditions and Orientations

In many convective liquid-vapor phase change heat transfer engineering applications, cryogenic fluids are widely used in industrial processes, spacecraft and cryosurgery systems, and so on. For example, cryogens are usually used as liquid fuels such as liquid hydrogen and oxygen in the rocket industry, liquid nitrogen (LN2) and helium are frequently used to cool superconducting magnetic device for medical applications. In these systems, proper transport, handling, and storage of cryogenic fluids are of extreme importance. Among all the cryogenic transport processes performed in room temperatures, quenching, also termed chilldown, is a unavoidable initial, transient phase-change heat transfer process that brings the system down to the cryogenic condition. The Leidenfrost temperature or rewet temperature that signals the end of film boiling is practically considered the completion point of a quenching process. Therefore, rewet temperature has been considered the most important parameter for the engineering design of cryogenic thermal management systems. As most of the previous correlations for predicting the Leidenfrost temperature and the rewet temperature have been basically developed for water, they are shown to disagree with recent liquid nitrogen pipe chilldown experiments in upward and downward flow directions over a wide range of flow rates, pressures, and degrees of inlet subcooling. In addition to a complete review of the literature, two new correlations are presented in this work, one based on bubble growth and another based on the theoretical maximum limit of superheat. Each correlation performs well over the entire data set.

liquid nitrogen↗

Modeling Electrolytic O2 Recovery from Metabolic CO2 for Advanced Closed Loop Life Support Systems in Extraterrestrial Human Missions

The International Space Station (ISS) is currently equipped with a complex, heavy, and power consuming system that recovers approximately 50% of O2 from metabolic CO2. Future long duration human missions to the Moon and Mars will necessitate a sustainable and highly efficient metabolic oxygen recovery system capable of yielding a minimum of 75% O2 recovery. A Macrofluidic Electrochemical Reactor (MFECR) technology development effort is currently underway at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to significantly increase current metabolic O2 recovery efficiency, expand mission sustainability, and reduce complexity of the system. The novel design combines CO2 conversion to O2 along with C2H4 as byproduct and water electrolysis (currently conducted in two separate units) into a single compact unit that runs at standard conditions and is theoretically capable of generating O2 with a theoretical maximum metabolic CO2 conversion of 73% while consuming less than metabolic water. This paper presents a comprehensive multi-physic 3D model developed at MSFC on CO2 conversion to O2 and C2H4 at standard conditions via MFECR. The 3D spatial domain of the model is a replica of the actual MFECR’s 3D drawing generated for the MFECR fabrication and operated to recover O2 from CO2 yielding C2H4 as byproduct. Electrochemical (EC) physics that includes EC multicomponent reaction mechanisms, mass transport, and electrical current density distributions is coupled in the model with all the other physics phenomena involved in the MFECR’s process, such as two-phase flow, free and porous fluid regimes, multicomponent mass transfer, heat transfer, and DC electrical current generation along with Joule heating effect. The EC reaction sections of the MFECR consists of two porous gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) and an electrolyte serpentine channel sandwiched in the middle. The CO2 feeds the cathode serpentine channel and part of the O2 product is fed back to the anode serpentine chamber. An alkaline solution feeds the electrolyte serpentine chamber wetting the GDEs of both, the anode and cathode allowing the OH- ionic transport between them. The EC reactions in the cathode’s GDE yield C2H4 from CO2 and H2 from water while the EC reaction in the anode’s GDE yields O2. The authors will present in this paper the validation of the model using experimental data and the utilization of the validated model in building a reliable simulator that will not only assist the authors on the MFECR design but also the optimization of its operation in the ISS and future spatial human missions.

Jesus A Dominguez↗

Analysis of Arc Welding Process in Space

This work is motivated by NASA plans to conduct welding experiments on the ISS. It is expected that deployment of welding and additive manufacturing technologies in the space environment has the potential to revolutionise how orbiting platforms are designed, manufactured, and assembled. However, the structure, composition and quality of a weld is extremely dependent on the environment and can be difficult to control in space. Shielding gases would also be tough to manage as gases behave differently in zero gravity and airless environments. Additional points of concern are related to the spatter and sparks dynamics in space. Therefore, there is a need for a more basic understanding of welding processes by computational modelling. To provide such an insight we developed state of art models of the ARC torch, droplet detachment and transfer, and the melt pool build up using magnetohydrodynamics approximation and level set method for two-phase liquid metal/-gas flow modelling. Two finite element models were built using 2D axisymmetric geometry in COMSOL Multiphysics®: (i) stationary model of the ARC torch and (ii) dynamical model of droplet detachment and transfer. Both models demonstrate reasonable agreement with earlier experimental observations and high sensitivity to the temperature dependence of the thermophysical parameters on the system materials. The models were used to provide physical insight into ARC welding in various environments and geometries. It was shown, in particular, that there is a significant probability of gas bubbles trapping in the meltpool and a possibility of unbounded wondering of sparks in the welding chamber in zero gravity. In addition, we estimated metal evaporation rate that may be hazardous in the confined environment of the ISS. These issues raise concern of quality of the weld and safety for ISS applications.

ARC welding↗

Universal Two-Phase Convection Heat Transfer Correlations for Cryogenic Pipe Chilldown

This paper presents a set of universal two-phase convection heat transfer correlations for modeling boiling heat transfer during pipe chilldown fit over the widest available range of cryogenic fluids and thermodynamic conditions. The correlations improve upon prior correlations that were developed separately for liquid nitrogen (LN2) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) pipe quenching datasets. The new correlations include equations to calculate the single-phase vapor heat transfer, film boiling heat transfer, transition boiling heat transfer, nucleate boiling heat transfer, single-phase liquid heat transfer, bulk vapor temperature during high quality film boiling, Leidenfrost temperature, critical heat flux, critical heat flux temperature, and the onset of nucleate boiling temperature. The correlations were validated against LH2, LN2, liquid methane, liquid oxygen, and liquid argon pipe quenching datasets. The eight datasets cover the following parameter ranges: pipe lengths of 0.1 to 6.5m; outer pipe diameters of 12.7 to 25.4 mm; pipe wall thicknesses from 0.51 to 1.64 mm; flow directions of upward, downward, and horizontal; gravity levels of 1g and 0g±0.01g. A numerical model assumes homogeneous mixing between the vapor and liquid and implicitly integrates the coupled energy equations for the pipe and fluid, as well as continuity for the fluid. The model was used to estimate the equilibrium quality and fluid mass accumulation along the pipes during chilldown from estimates of the fluid-pipe heat transfer extracted from temperature measurements. The correlations can be implemented in lumped parameter codes such as SINDA/FLUINT and the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP) to improve the accuracy of chilldown time and chilldown boiloff mass predictions. Such predictions are useful for designing ground or in-space cryogenic liquid transfer systems.

Universal Correlations↗

The ZBOT-NC Experiment - Effects of Non-Condensable Gases on Propellant Tank Pressurization and Pressure Control

Introduction Integral to all phases of NASA’s projected planetary expeditions is affordable and reliable cryogenic fluid storage for use in propellant or life support systems. It is greatly advantageous to develop innovative vent-less pressure control designs based on cooling/mixing of the bulk tank fluid to allow storage of the cryogenic fluid with zero or reduced boil-off. The presence of noncondensable gases, can interfere with the condensation at the interface impacting tank pressure control during subcooled jet mixing especially in microgravity. The Zero-Boil-Off Tank (ZBOT) Experiments are a series of small-scale experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that use a transparent volatile simulant fluid in a transparent sealed tank to delineate various fundamental fluid flow, heat and mass transport, and phase change phenomena associated with storage tank pressurization and pressure control in microgravity. The ZBOT-1 experiment was performed on the ISS 2017-2018 timeframe and collected data to validate a state-of-the-art CFD model for tank pressurization and pressure control for a pure system. The ZBOT-NC Experiment is the second experiment in the series to be performed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025. Its goal is to investigate the effects of noncondensable gases on interfacial evaporation and condensation during self -pressurization and jet-mixing pressure control in microgravity for a two-component system. Materials & Methods In this work, we will describe the detailed features of the ZBOT-NC experimental hardware and Diagnostics that includes nonintrusive Quantum Dot Thermometry (QDT) for whole field temperature measurement. All microgravity pressurization and pressure control tests will be performed for both the pure and the two-components systems with Xenon and Neon as the two noncondensable gases spanning small and large molecular weights and sizes. The two-phase CFD model that is developed as part of the project will be also presented and discussed. Results Ground-based pressurization and jet mixing experiments and CFD simulation results are compared to each other to validate both the fidelity of the CFD model predictions and the accuracy of the QDT measurement. Model simulations for noncondensable gas effects will also be compared against large Cryogenic LH2-GHe experiments to indicate the noncondensable gas effects on tank pressure control during jet mixing in 1G. Finally, CFD results will be presented to predict the effects of the noncondensable gas during subcooled jet mixing during the ZBOT-NC in advance of the microgravity experiment in 2015.

Evaporation Condensation↗

The Zero-Boil-Off Tank Experiment: the Effects of Non-Condensable Gases on Pressurization and Pressure Control of Propellant Tanks in Microgravity

Introduction Integral to all phases of NASA’s projected planetary expeditions is affordable and reliable cryogenic fluid storage for use in propellant or life support systems. It is greatly advantageous to develop innovative vent-less pressure control designs based on cooling/mixing of the bulk tank fluid to allow storage of the cryogenic fluid with zero or reduced boil-off. The presence of noncondensable gases, can interfere with the condensation at the interface impacting tank pressure control during subcooled jet mixing especially in microgravity. The Zero-Boil-Off Tank (ZBOT) Experiments are a series of small-scale experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that use a transparent volatile simulant fluid in a transparent sealed tank to delineate various fundamental fluid flow, heat and mass transport, and phase change phenomena associated with storage tank pressurization and pressure control in microgravity. The ZBOT-1 experiment was performed on the ISS 2017-2018 timeframe and collected data to validate a state-of-the-art CFD model for tank pressurization and pressure control for a pure system. The ZBOT-NC Experiment is the second experiment in the series to be performed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025. Its goal is to investigate the effects of noncondensable gases on interfacial evaporation and condensation during self -pressurization and jet-mixing pressure control in microgravity for a two-component system. Materials & Methods In this work, we will describe the detailed features of the ZBOT-NC experimental hardware and Diagnostics that includes nonintrusive Quantum Dot Thermometry (QDT) for whole field temperature measurement. All microgravity pressurization and pressure control tests will be performed for both the pure and the two-components systems with Xenon and Neon as the two noncondensable gases spanning small and large molecular weights and sizes. The two-phase CFD model that is developed as part of the project will be also presented and discussed. Results Ground-based pressurization and jet mixing experiments and CFD simulation results are compared to each other to validate both the fidelity of the CFD model predictions and the accuracy of the QDT measurement. Model simulations for noncondensable gas effects will also be compared against large Cryogenic LH2-GHe experiments to indicate the noncondensable gas effects on tank pressure control during jet mixing in 1G. Finally, CFD results will be presented to predict the effects of the noncondensable gas during subcooled jet mixing during the ZBOT-NC in advance of the microgravity experiment in 2015.

Evaporation Condensation↗