Numerical Simulation of a Two-Phase Thermal Control System

Master thesis (2017)

Authors

R.G.A. Bolder Aerospace Engineering

Contributors

A. Cervone (mentor)
B.T.C. Zandbergen (graduation committee member)
M. Pini (graduation committee member)
Henk Jan van Gerner (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
Copyright: © 2017 Robin Bolder
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Published Date

05-10-2017

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Two-phase thermal control systems are used for payloads that require temperature stability under high and fluctuating heat output. However, the complex interaction between the two phases in a flow makes it hard to predict the performance of such a system. The goal was to develop a numerical model able to predict the transient behaviour of such a system within a 30% error margin. An existing explicit one-dimensional finite-difference simulation was expanded using new correlations from literature. The performance of this model was validated using experimental measurements gathered with the NLR two-phase demonstrator setup. The resulting numerical simulation can predict the transient behaviour of the pressure drop and liquid level in the accumulator with a mean error of 7.7% and 1.3% respectively. The goal therefore has been reached.While room remains for further improvement and validation, this model can significantly shorten the development time of new two-phase systems.

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