Effect of baffles on pressurization and thermal stratification in a LN2 tank under micro-gravity

TL;DR

This study uses VOF simulations to analyze how different baffle structures affect pressurization and thermal stratification of liquid nitrogen in microgravity, revealing significant impacts on storage performance.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the influence of baffle design on self-pressurization and thermal stratification in cryogenic tanks under microgravity conditions.

Findings

Up to 54% difference in pressurization observed with baffle optimization.

Baffle structure significantly affects thermal stratification.

Simulation results guide better tank design for space applications.

Abstract

Researches on the impact of existing baffles on sloshing suppression of two-phase fluids in storage tanks have been widely conducted in literature. However, few studies focus on the effect of the baffles on self-pressurization or thermal stratification of the fluids in containers. This paper uses Volume of Fluid (VOF) method to simulate the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic behavior of liquid nitrogen in a tank with different baffle structures under microgravity environment. Groups of gravity levels, fill levels and distances, angles and gaps of baffles, are compared and analyzed. Up to 54\% difference in pressurization can be observed by optimizing the baffle structure and metrics, which is significant to achieve the highest performance of storage fluid control in the tank.