Speaker
Description
To enable the design of future in-space cryogenic propellant vehicles such as Lunar and Martian ascent and descent stages and the nuclear thermal propulsion system, high accuracy models of various phases of the propellant transfer process are required. NASA and US universities are developing and validating numerical modeling tools that can be used for future in-space cryogenic system design and analysis. The limiting challenge has been the lack of direct-cryogenic data at the relevant scale and environment; thus the current suite of models is predominately anchored to ground tests with cryogens and/or simulant fluids in reduced gravity. In collaboration between NASA Glenn and Case Western Reserve University across two projects, this presentation covers recent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of different elements of the cryogenic propellant transfer process using commercial software FLUENT. The CFD simulations in reduced gravity for line chilldown are the first of its kind to be anchored to direct-cryogenic data taken in a reduced gravity environment. This presentation will cover an overview of the validation experiments, CFD model set up, and CFD model results.
Keywords: cryogenic propellant transfer, microgravity, CFD, line chilldown, flow boiling
