Microgravity Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer Computation

1
Microgravity Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer
Computation
Gary Cox Oliver Pozo Project Advisors Dr. G.F.
Carey, Dr. R.O. Stearman Project Assistants Bill
Barth, Alexandre Aardelea Facilities CFD Lab,
Dept. Aerospace Engineering, UT Austin
2
Presentation Organization

• Objective
• Project Motivation
• Problem Description
• Flow Transport Results
• Linking Analysis Optimization
• Summary and QA

3
Objective

• Computer simulation of coupled fluid flow and
  heat transfer in a microgravity environment
• Fluid and Transport Physics
• Design of Fluid Thermal Systems

4
Project Motivation

• Future space-based fluid-thermal systems can be
  optimized
• Space-based production processes such as crystal
  growth need knowledge of microgravity fluid
  behavior
• Simulation complements experiment, provides
  insight and accelerates design
• Non-Linear Fluid/Thermal Interactions

5
Experimental Research

• Drop Towers -- NASAs Glenn Research Center

• Airborne Research KC-135 and DC-9

• (2.2 - 5.2 sec)

• (30 sec)

6
Experimental Research

• Space Shuttle

• International Space Station (FCF facility)

• (10-16 days)

• (Months - Years)

7
How We Fit In

• Use computational software to compute fluid
  behavior under a variety of conditions
• Correlate experimental results with computational
  results to verify the validity of the code
• Study Design Optimization Control of these
  Fluid/Thermal Systems

8
Parametric Studies

• Gravity µGravity
• Surface Tension
• Domain size

9
Case Studies (for Water)

• Left wall -- HOT

Bottom wall -- Cold
10
Case 1
11
Case 2
12
UT Research Programs

• CFD Lab

• Non-Linear Dynamics Lab

13
Research Setup -- Two Components

• Hardware 16-node Linux-based Beowulf
  parallel-computing cluster
• Software Finite-Element CFD program MGFLO,
  allows for user-defined fluid/thermal parameters,
  boundary conditions, and gravity vector. Matlab
  with PDE and Optimization Toolkits for
  Feasibility Study.

14
MGFLO

• Parallel-Optimized Code
• Computes Heat Transfer and Fluid Motion
• User-Definable Boundary Conditions, including
  Gravity vector

15
Optimization Feasibility Study

• Use Matlab with PDE and Optimization Toolkits
• Optimize boundary conditions for a specified heat
  flow condition
• Show a simple case of how optimization might be
  implemented with MGFLO in the future

16
Optimization Case Study

• Specify a geometry
• Identify heat flow condition to be optimized (min
  or max)
• Examine the results of the optimization routine

17
Case Geometry
18
Initial Boundary Condition
19
Optimization In-Progress
20
Optimization In Progress
21
Optimal Solution
22
Discussion of Case Study

• Study shows that available tools can solve
  simple cases, and suggests that tools can be
  built for more complex applications such as MGFLO
• MatLab code developed lays the groundwork for
  optimization toolkit for MGFLO, which can be used
  for real-world fluid flow design work.

23
Conclusions

• The study of fluid flow and heat transfer in
  microgravity conditions is important for a
  variety of applications
• There are many organizations investigating
  microgravity fluid flow through experimentation
  and simulation

24
Conclusions

• Simulation complements experiment, provides
  insight and accelerates design
• Future work can include integration with an
  optimization feedback system for controlling
  fluid flow and heat transfer through boundary
  condition manipulation

25
Questions?