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An application of miniscale experiments on Earth to refine microgravity analysis of adiabatic multiphase flow in spaceAdiabatic two-phase flow is of interest to the design of multiphase fluid and thermal management systems for spacecraft. This paper presents original data and unifies existing data for capillary tubes as a step toward assessing existing multiphase flow analysis and engineering software. Comparisons of theory with these data once again confirm the broad accuracy of the theory. Due to the simplicity and low cost of the capillary tube experiments, which were performed on earth, we were able to closely examine for the first time a flow situation that had not previously been examined appreciably by aircraft tests. This is the situation of a slug flow at high quality, near transition to annular flow. Our comparison of software calculations with these data revealed overprediction of pipeline pressure drop by up to a factor of three. In turn, this finding motivated a reexamination of the existing theory, and then development of a new analytical and is in far better agreement with the data. This sequence of discovery illustrates the role of inexpensive miniscale modeling on earth to anticipate microgravity behavior in space and to complete and help define needs for aircraft tests.
Document ID
19950008153
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Rothe, Paul H.
(Creare, Inc. Hanover, NH, United States)
Martin, Christine
(Creare, Inc. Hanover, NH, United States)
Downing, Julie
(Creare, Inc. Hanover, NH, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Lewis Research Center, Second Microgravity Fluid Physics Conference
Subject Category
Materials Processing
Accession Number
95N14567
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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