Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6768

Date

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Mechanical Engineering

Concentration

Power Systems

Committee Chair

Jeffrey Marchetta

Committee Member

Daniel Foti

Committee Member

John Hochstein

Abstract

Cryogenic fluids are used in various fields, such as biomedical technology, food transportation, and aerospace. Liquid hydrogen and oxygen are cryogenic fluids that can act as energy-dense fuels for long-term, large payload space flight. Much of the resulting research in long-duration cryogenic fluid storage has focused on zero-boil-off tank pressure control in low gravity environments. The high cost of testing these systems in low gravity has created a need to develop accurate models of the behavior of fluids in these environments. Simulaitons of tank pressure control require accurate models of evaporation and condensation phase change. Recent advancements in commercial fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software offer potential to evaluate evaporation and condensation phase change models in low gravity two phase flows. The goal of this research is to use ANSYS FLUENT, a commercial CFD software, to simulate pool boiling in low gravity. The volume of fluid approach with the Lee phase change model, which predicts heat and mass transfer at the liquid vapor interface, has been recently added to FLUENT. Predictions of low gravity natural convection and nucleate boiling using FLUENT are presented and are compared to experimental data and previously published numerical simulations.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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