Modeling and applications of two-phase flow distribution in manifolds under microgravity conditions

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references: p. 71-78.Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.The distribution of a microgravity two-phase flow throughout a manifold system consisting of two parallel flow headers joined by branching conduits was modeled. Adiabatic conditions were assumed. The two-phase flow was modeled using the homogeneous equilibrium model for pressure changes, along with a previously developed phase separation equation which describes the phase redistribution at a dividing T-junction. An iterative numerical method for calculating the mass flow rate, flow quality, and pressure associated with the flow throughout a manifold was developed. This calculational procedure was developed in order to calculate the flow distribution throughout a system, given only the inlet flow conditions and an arbitrary manifold geometry. Sample calculations for fluids and geometries of interest were performed in order to evaluate the performance of the code and design an experiment for code validation. Only one applicable microgravity two-phase flow experiment exists in the literature, and its results are qualitative and limited. Therefore, an experiment was designed which will produce the data necessary to validate this and other similar codes