Study on Dynamic Wetting Behavior in Microgravity Condition Targeted for Propellant Tank

抄録

Fluid behavior in microgravity (μg) is different from in ground gravity since surface tension, viscous force, and wetting are dominant in g condition. In propellant tank for artificial satellite and future on-orbit spacecraft, sloshing due to disturbance and settling behavior by change of acceleration have to be understood for design of propellant supply system and attitude control system. These fluid behaviors in μg are affected by a dynamic wetting significantly, therefore it is important to understand dynamic wetting which dominates fluid behavior. We observed fluid behaviors in cylindrical containers in microgravity conditions created by drop tower facility, and effect of viscosity and diameter of container on fluid behaviors were investigated. CFD analyses were conducted and these results were compared with experimental results. It was confirmed that numerical model considering dependence of contact line velocity in dynamic contact angle by empirical and theoretical methods provided more reasonable results.