TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of cryogenic chilldown in a complex channel under low gravity using a sounding rocket
AU - Kinefuchi, Kiyoshi
AU - Sarae, Wataru
AU - Umemura, Yutaka
AU - Fujita, Takeshi
AU - Okita, Koichi
AU - Kobayashi, Hiroaki
AU - Nonaka, Satoshi
AU - Himeno, Takehiro
AU - Sato, Tetsuya
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are deeply grateful to all the staff of the S-310-43 launch operation, especially to Nobuaki Ishii, Yuji Yoshida, and Yoshitaka Mochihara of Institute Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)/JAXA. The payload development was supported by Daizo Sugimori, Daisuke Yabusaki, Keiichiro Fujimoto, Miki Nishimoto, and Hideyo Negishi of JAXA. The authors would like to thank Taichi Aoyama and Osamu Kitayama of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Takuma Inoue and Shinichiro Ishizaki of IHI Aerospace for their advice in the planning phase. The technical support by Jecc Torisha, Baron Electronics, Shinwa Giken, Go Child and IHI Aerospace Engineering is also highly appreciated.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2018 by the authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Torealize high-performance cryogenic propulsion systems, the chilldown sequence has to be improved. Because the chilldown is carried out under low gravity, the effect of gravity on the two-phase flow, especially at low flow rate, should be investigated. To understand the physics under low gravity, an experiment was conducted using a sounding rocket. Two identical test sections with different mass flow rates simulated part of a turbopump, each of which has a complex flowpath including slits and a dead end. Using liquid nitrogen, the flight experiment obtained data of temperatures, pressures, void fractions, and video frames of liquid motion. Then, the flight experiment data were compared to the ground data taken under normal gravity, revealing that the slits played an important role in the chilldown process and that the test sections were quickly chilled down under low gravity. The slits of the test sections formed liquid jets, and their behaviors were different from those in the ground experiment. In the flight experiment, the jets easily reached the dead end of the test sections and cooled down the whole walls due to the increase in inertia and wettability; however, such behaviors were hardly observed in the ground experiment. The difference between the ground and flight is significant at lower flow rate.
AB - Torealize high-performance cryogenic propulsion systems, the chilldown sequence has to be improved. Because the chilldown is carried out under low gravity, the effect of gravity on the two-phase flow, especially at low flow rate, should be investigated. To understand the physics under low gravity, an experiment was conducted using a sounding rocket. Two identical test sections with different mass flow rates simulated part of a turbopump, each of which has a complex flowpath including slits and a dead end. Using liquid nitrogen, the flight experiment obtained data of temperatures, pressures, void fractions, and video frames of liquid motion. Then, the flight experiment data were compared to the ground data taken under normal gravity, revealing that the slits played an important role in the chilldown process and that the test sections were quickly chilled down under low gravity. The slits of the test sections formed liquid jets, and their behaviors were different from those in the ground experiment. In the flight experiment, the jets easily reached the dead end of the test sections and cooled down the whole walls due to the increase in inertia and wettability; however, such behaviors were hardly observed in the ground experiment. The difference between the ground and flight is significant at lower flow rate.
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U2 - 10.2514/1.A34222
DO - 10.2514/1.A34222
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063059872
VL - 56
SP - 91
EP - 103
JO - Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
JF - Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
SN - 0022-4650
IS - 1
ER -