Capillary Channel Flows (CCF)
Principal Investigator: Michael Dreyer, Zarm (Bremen)
Project Scientist: Brian
Motil, Glenn Research Center
Project Manager: Monica
Hoffmann, Glenn Research Center
Currently scheduled to be launched: Flight #TBD
- Date 05/2008
Why:
Current design of spacecraft fuel tanks rely
on an additional reservoir to prevent the ingestion of gas into the engines
during firing.
Research is necessary because current models
do not adequately predict the maximum flow rate achievable through the
capillary vanes.
How:
To determine the shape of the free surface and
to find the maximum flow rate which may be achieved in an open channel
without a collapse of the free surface.
Configurations to be tested include various geometries
(parallel plates, grooves, wedges, and a liquid bridge.)
These results will be used to validate and test
theoretical models.
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Open channel with capillary driven flow.
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Impact/Benefits:
To reduce cost and weight, and increase life
and reliability of spacecraft and satellites by reducing complexity of
fuel tanks.
To quantify conditions that lead to a maximum
flow rate through an open capillary channel.
Experiment will be designed, built, and funded
by German space agency (DLR) and fly in the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR).
Capillary Channel Flows (CCF)
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Flight Experiment: MOBI
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by Jennifer Yost