Liquid Sloshing in Microgravity
- Paper number
IAC-05-A2.2.07
- Author
Dr. Roel Luppes, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
prof.dr. Arthur E.P. Veldman, The Netherlands
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The subject of study is the influence of sloshing liquid onboard spacecraft and satellites. With the increasing amount of liquid onboard spacecraft, liquid management and its influence on the overall spacecraft dynamics is becoming increasingly important. Severe problems with sloshing liquid in space have been reported. Experimental study on earth is hampered by the short duration of terrestrial free fall. Therefore, experiments have been carried out with the NLR-built satellite 'Sloshsat FLEVO' in an orbit around earth. These experiments were supported by a theoretical/computational model based on the Navier-Stokes equations for 3D incompressible free-surface flow. This model includes capillary surface physics as well as coupled solid-liquid interaction dynamics. Experimental results and numerical simulations are compared. The obtained frequencies in angular velocities are reasonably comparable at various rotational rates and during various satellite manoeuvres. At low rotational rates the capillary effects are important for the obtained damping of manoeuvre-induced oscillations in the angular velocities. The same holds for manoeuvres that induce only small scale liquid motion, such as nutation avoiding manoeuvres. In case of large scale liquid motion, such as obtained during flat-spin manouevres, capillary forces are less important.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-A2.2.07.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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