CFD simulation of heat transfer and phase change characteristics of the cryogenic liquid hydrogen tank under microgravity conditions

The heat transfer and phase change processes of cryogenic liquid hydrogen (LH2) in the tank have an important influence on the working performance of the liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen storage and supply system of rockets and spacecrafts. In this study, we use the RANS method coupled with Lee model and VOF (volume of fraction) method to solve Navier-stokes equations. The Lee model is adopted to describe the phase change process of liquid hydrogen, and the VOF method is utilized to calculate free surface by solving the advection equation of volume fraction. The model is used to simulate the heat transfer and phase change processes of the cryogenic liquid hydrogen in the storage tank with the different gravitational accelerations, initial temperature, and liquid fill ratios of liquid hydrogen. Numerical results indicate greater gravitational acceleration enhances buoyancy and convection, enhancing convective heat transfer and evaporation processes in the tank. When the acceleration of gravity increases from 10-2 g0 to 10-5 g0, gaseous hydrogen mass increases from 0.0157 kg to 0.0244 kg at 200s. With the increase of initial liquid hydrogen temperature, the heat required to raise the liquid hydrogen to saturation temperature decreases and causes more liquid hydrogen to evaporate and cools the gas hydrogen temperature. More cryogenic liquid hydrogen (i.e., larger the fill ratio) makes the average fluid temperature in the tank lower. A 12.5% reduction in the fill ratio resulted in a decrease in fluid temperature from 20.35 K to 20.15 K (a reduction of about 0.1%, at 200s).(c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, the heat transfer and phase change processes of cryogenic liquid hydrogen in a storage tank were simulated using the RANS method coupled with the Lee model and VOF method. Numerical results showed that increasing gravitational acceleration enhanced convective heat transfer and evaporation processes in the tank. The increase in initial liquid hydrogen temperature decreased the heat required to raise the liquid to saturation temperature, resulting in more evaporation and lower gas hydrogen temperature. Higher fill ratio of cryogenic liquid hydrogen led to a lower average fluid temperature in the tank.