Speaker
Dr
Ali Kashani
(Millennium Engineering & Integration Company)
Description
A cryogenic advanced propellant loading (APL) system is being developed at NASA. The APL will be employed in a wide range of applications including autonomous cryogenic loading operations. The number of applications and a variety of loading regimes call for development of computer assisted design and optimization methods that will reduce time and cost and improve reliability of APL. An aspect of this development is modeling and optimization of non-equilibrium two-phase cryogenic flow in the transfer line. Previously, we reported on modeling the cryogenic chilldown and loading of the NASA-KSC testbed using SINDA/FLUINT. The model is based on the solution of two-phase flow conservation equations in one dimension and a full set of correlations for flow patterns, losses, and heat transfer in the pipes, valves, and at t-junctions. It was shown that the pressure, fluid and wall temperatures, obtained during chilldown of the facility were well represented by the model.
For future cryogenic loading applications it is desired to optimize the entire chilldown process during system design. The objective of such an optimization could be multifold, including; (i) to attain system parameters that minimize chilldown time or (ii) minimize fluid loss. Many parameters may be varied during the optimization process. These include pipe sizing, valve opening and timing, for both flow valves as well as dump valves, pressure in the storage tank, etc.
Currently an optimization procedure is being implemented in the existing KSC model to study the feasibility of such an approach in SINDA/FLUINT. Results of this development will be reported as well as refinement to the model since our last report.
The optimization results will also be compared with those obtained using an unconstrained nonlinear optimization method applied to a homogeneous model of two-phase cryogenic flow.
Primary author
Dr
Ali Kashani
(Millennium Engineering & Integration Company)
Co-authors
Dr
Barbara Brown
(NASA-KSC)
Dr
Dmitry Luchinsky
(Mission Critical Technologies)
Dr
Ekaterina Ponizhovskaya Devine
(SGT, Inc.)
Dr
Jared Sass
(NASA-KSC)
Dr
Jose Perotti
(NASA-KSC)
Dr
Michael Khasin
(SGT, Inc.)