Experimental and numerical investigation of slurry flows in pipelines: a contribution towards slush propellants for future rockets’ engines.

• Main Author: Scelzo, Maria
• Other Authors: Parente, Alessandro
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: en
• Published: Universite Libre de Bruxelles 2021
• Subjects: Sciences de l'ingénieur; slush; slurry; two-phase flows; particulate flows; URANS; capacitance sensor; pipe flow
• Online Access: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/328909/4/cover_MTScelzo.pdf; https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/328909/6/contratMS.pdf; https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/328909/3/NPI_PhDThesis_MTScelzo_VKI.pdf; https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/328909/5/tableOfContent_MTScelzo.pdf; http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/328909

Slush is a two phase flow of solid particles (crystals) and liquid at the triple point temperature, and constitutes an appealing alternative to liquid propellants for space launchers. The crystals give to the mixture higher density and lower specific enthalpy than liquid, enabling reduced tank volume storage and larger fuel holding time. However, the presence of solid crystals significantly modifies the thermo-hydraulics of the fuel transport, and requires novel predictive tools and diagnostic techniques for efficiently exploiting slush propellants. This thesis contributes to both aspects. In particular, this work studied the flow pressure losses and the heat transfer of solid-liquid mixtures in pipelines, combining experimental and numerical methods. Hydraulic and thermal flow features were analyzed separately with substitute mixtures chosen to mimic the behavior of slush flows in engine fuel feed systems. A dedicated facility was designed and built. The pipeline mounted conventional probes for pressure, temperature and mass flow rate measurements. Moreover, a capacitance-based density meter was developed and validated to measure the mixture's solid content. Optical flow visualization and image processing routines were combined to retrieve particulate phase distribution and velocity fields. The experimental work was complemented with 3D Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes simulations in OpenFOAM. The simulations coupled the Euler-Euler approach with the granular kinetic theory for the treatment of the solid dispersed phase. The model was validated with the experimental results on the pressure drop, heat transfer and solid volume fraction.The resulting physical insights and the proposed empirical correlations on the pressure drop and heat transfer in solid-liquid flows contribute to move a step forward towards slush propelled space launchers. === Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie === info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished