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Estimating zero‐ g flow rates in open channels having capillary pumping vanes
Author(s) -
Srinivasan Radhakrishnan
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.446
Subject(s) - inlet , mechanics , flow (mathematics) , computational fluid dynamics , surface tension , volumetric flow rate , sump (aquarium) , engineering , propellant , simulation , marine engineering , aerospace engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , thermodynamics , waste management
In vane‐type surface tension propellant management devices (PMD) commonly used in satellite fuel tanks, the propellant is transported along guiding vanes from a reservoir at the inlet of the device to a sump at the outlet from where it is pumped to the satellite engine. The pressure gradient driving this free‐surface flow under zero‐gravity (zero‐ g ) conditions is generated by surface tension and is related to the differential curvatures of the propellant‐gas interface at the inlet and outlet of the PMD. A new semi‐analytical procedure is prescribed for accurately calculating the extremely small fuel flow rates under reasonably idealized conditions. Convergence of the algorithm is demonstrated by detailed numerical calculations. Owing to the substantial cost and the technical hurdles involved in accurately estimating these minuscule flow rates by either direct numerical simulation or by experimental methods which simulate zero‐ g conditions in the lab, it is expected that the proposed method will be an indispensable tool in the design and operation of satellite fuel tanks. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.