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Dynamic Behaviors of Liquid in Partially Filled Tank in Short-term Microgravity

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Abstract

The oscillation of liquid/gas free surface in a partially filled storage tank caused by an abrupt drop of gravity level is of critical importance for the fluids management in space. In present study we investigate the dynamic behavior of free surface in tank models (tubes) using water as the working medium utilizing the Drop Tower Beijing, which can provide a 3.6s short-term microgravity condition. Meanwhile, the corresponding numerical simulation using volume of fluids (VOF) methods was carried out. It is shown that the dynamic behavior of free surface, which belongs to the typical phenomenon of capillary flow, is affected by the properties of working medium and the geometry and surface properties of the storage tank (especially the contact angle) jointly. The numerical simulation could capture the major characteristic oscillation frequency of free surface revealed by experiment. The oscillation frequency of free surface increases with the increasing air fraction and remains nearly constant at large air fraction. For the same air fraction, the oscillation frequency significantly increases with the decreasing tank diameter.

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Abbreviations

C :

volume fraction if fluids

D :

diameter of tank

D :

rate of deformation tensor

g 0 :

normal gravity on the ground

g :

acceleration vector of gravity

k :

curvature

H :

height

k v :

air fraction

\(\hat {\textbf {{n}}}\) :

unit normal

o :

origin of coordinates

R :

radius

t :

time

u :

velocity vector

V a :

volume of air

V 0 :

volume of sphere

z :

z coordinate, position of contact line

γ :

contact angle

δ s :

surface Dirac delta function

μ :

dynamic viscosity

ρ :

density

σ :

surface tension

ν :

kinematic viscosity

∇:

laplacian operator

c:

center of free surface

L:

large tube

m:

Meniscus

S:

small tube

w:

wall

eq:

equilibrium position

max:

maximun value

min:

minimum value

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (Grant No. QYZDY-SSW-JSC040) and the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Gant No. 11672311 and 11472282).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Microgravity (National Microgravity Laboratory), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Ji-Cheng Li, Hai Lin, Jian-Fu Zhao, Kai Li & Wen-Rui Hu

  2. School of Engineering Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Ji-Cheng Li, Jian-Fu Zhao & Kai Li

Authors
  1. Ji-Cheng Li
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  2. Hai Lin
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  3. Jian-Fu Zhao
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  4. Kai Li
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  5. Wen-Rui Hu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kai Li.

Additional information

Ji-Cheng LI performed the numerical simulation and experimental data processing. Hai LIN carried out the experiment.

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Approaching the Chinese Space Station - Microgravity Research in China

Guest Editors: Jian-Fu Zhao, Shuang-Feng Wang

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Li, JC., Lin, H., Zhao, JF. et al. Dynamic Behaviors of Liquid in Partially Filled Tank in Short-term Microgravity. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 30, 849–856 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-018-9642-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-018-9642-5

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