Influence of wall ribs on the thermal stratification and self-pressurization in a cryogenic liquid tank

Self-pressurization in a cylindrical ribbed tank which is partially filled with liquid hydrogen is investigated numerically under different rib spacing-to-height ratios. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) method is employed as well as a phase change model. Appropriate models are incorporated into the Ansys Fluent by the user-defined functions to carry out the computations. The ribbed surface is modeled as a finned surface and a conjugate transient heat transfer problem is formulated for predicting fluid flow currents and heat transfer. The effect of rib material and shapes is also studied. Numerical results indicate that the pressure rise can be reduced by ribs mounted on the tank wall. This phenomenon is more pronounced as the rib spacing-to-height ratio is reduced. A vortex is observed in the downstream region of each rib when the spacing-to-height has a relatively high value. Evaporation occurs as time elapses due to heat accumulation at the rib surfaces. Pressure starts to rise later with high thermal conductivity ribs and becomes higher with low thermal conductivity ribs when the ribs are of identical configuration in geometry. The final pressure rise seems to be monotonically versus increasing time. The semicircular ribs perform better than rectangular ones in control of the pressure rise and thermal stratification for identical cross sectional area and if the locations are kept the same. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.