Coolant film flow over the edge of a nozzle in a rarefied gas

Abstract

The flow of a thin liquid film over the nozzle wall under the action of tangential friction and pressure gradient is considered. For the slow flow of the film with constant thermal physical properties, analytical dependences of the film thickness and temperature at the interface on the coordinate along the nozzle edge are derived. The flow of the film over the variable-curvature nozzle edge when the gas expands into vacuum is considered. At the initial section of the curvilinear edge, the film thickness increases in inverse proportion to the root of the friction stress at the interface. Near the end point of the nozzle, the film thickens drastically because of a decrease in the friction and, consequently, the curvature of the interface diminishes. As a result, the deceleration of the liquid by the Laplace pressure gradient drops, which causes an additional sharp growth of the thickness of the film with the possibility of its dynamic and thermal disintegration and, eventually, contamination of the spacecraft surface.