Performance Testing of Liquid Hydrogen Tanks

Testing the performance of liquid hydrogen in tanks brings many unique challenges. Often methods used even for liquid nitrogen need to be modified to be able to address the details required to fully understand the performance of the tank. During the development and characterization of many novel insulation systems both for in-space and ground applications, NASA has tested many liquid hydrogen tanks where performance was a key outcome. Over the course of analyzing the performance of multiple different hydrogen tests, including several with both hydrogen and nitrogen, differences in the details of test data interpretation become clear. One of these key details is the thermal stratification of the tank and what it can tell you about the heat load dispersion.