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Development of A Flow Boiling Visualization Experiment for Liquid HydrogenLiquid hydrogen (LH2) is the highest specific impulse rocket fuel and used on roughly 25% of active United States rocket launch systems. However, these systems are informed by flow boiling heat transfer correlations, the most recent of which has up to 50% root-mean-squared error when used with liquid hydrogen. These errors are exacerbated by the fact that no previous experiments have optically verified multiphase hydrogen flow regimes concurrent with heat transfer measurements. To address this gap, this publication presents the development of a two-phase hydrogen visualization flow cell that can address uncertainty in existing models by providing temperature, velocity, and pressure drop data while identifying flow regimes in two-phase hydrogen. Preliminary results using liquid nitrogen are provided with uncertainties. The resulting system will be used to characterize boiling and heat transfer criticality for increased confidence in multi-phase liquid hydrogen flow estimates for system design.
Document ID
20250005855
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Ian Wells
(Washington State University Pullman, United States)
Sophia Abi-Saad
(Washington State University Pullman, United States)
Jason W Hartwig
(Glenn Research Center Cleveland, United States)
Jacob Leachman
(Washington State University Pullman, United States)
Thierry Sibilli
(Airbus (Germany) Hamburg, Germany)
Date Acquired
June 4, 2025
Publication Date
December 1, 2025
Publication Information
Publication: Advances in Cryogenic Engineering
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISSN: 0065-2482
Subject Category
Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: 80NSSC24K1357
WBS: 832911.01.22.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Portions of document may include copyright protected material.
Technical Review
Single Expert
Keywords
flow visualization
liquid hydrogen
universal correlation
chilldown
heated tube
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