Joule-Thomson Cryogenic Nitrogen Orifice Flows

The Joule-Thomson Effect involves the expansion of a fluid through a throttling device, often a simple orifice, resulting in a change in the fluid's temperature. It has been leveraged in the design and analysis of Thermodynamic Vent Systems and integrated into injector designs for cryogenic no-vent fill tank-to-tank transfer testing. There is a scarcity of comprehensive data available to model the phenomenon effectively using tools such as GFSSP for cryogenic nitrogen flows. This experiment aims to model the Joule-Thomson effect of liquid nitrogen through seven traditionally manufactured, sharp-edged orifices manufactured by O’Keefe and three additively manufactured (AM) orifices manufactured by Cumberland Additive. The traditional orifice sizes were 0.016, 0.02, 0.024, 0.032, 0.037, and 0.04 inch in diameter. The three additive orifices had diameters with target/nominal sizes equal to the 0.016, 0.024, and 0.04 inch O’Keefe orifices. However, the actual diameters of the AM orifices were found to be 0.014, 0.024, and 0.035 inches due to additive manufacturing restrictions.
Water was flowed through the orifices to verify that their flow coefficients matched published values and to establish flow coefficients for the AM orifices. Liquid nitrogen was flowed through the orifices in a separate test apparatus. The liquid nitrogen started as a subcooled liquid upstream of the orifice and transitioned into a two-phase gas-liquid mixture after passing through each orifice. The upstream pressure was set to 29 psia, 34 psia, 39 psia, and/or 42 psia or 44 psia. The pressure, temperature, and flow rate were measured upstream and downstream of the orifice for three trials at each set point. The average volumetric flow rate and Joule-Thomson Coefficients were calculated from this data. The AM orifices and traditionally manufactured orifices displayed similar results. This data will refine the dataset GFSSP uses to model the J-T Effect more accurately.