Mathematical Modeling of the Thermal Shell State of the Cylindrical Cryogenic Tank During Filling and Emptying

Liquid hydrogen and oxygen are used as the oxidizer and fuel for liquid rocket engines. Liquefied natural gas, which is based on methane, is seen as a promising motor fuel for internal combustion engines. One of the technical problems arising from the use of said cryogenic liquid is to provide containers for storage, transport and use in the propulsion system. In the design and operation of such vessels it is necessary to have reliable information about their temperature condition, on which depend the loss of cryogenic fluids due to evaporation and the stress-strain state of the structural elements of the containers.Uneven temperature distribution along the generatrix of the cylindrical thin-walled shell of rocket cryogenic tanks, in a localized zone of cryogenic liquid level leads to a curvature of the shell and reduce the permissible axle load in a hazard shell buckling in the preparation for the start of the missile in flight with an increasing acceleration. Moving the level of the cryogenic liquid during filling or emptying the tank at a certain combination of parameters results in an increase of the local temperature distribution nonuniformity.Along with experimental study of the shell temperature state of the cryogenic container, methods of mathematical modeling allow to have information needed for designing and testing the construction of cryogenic tanks. In this study a mathematical model is built taking into account features of heat transfer in a cryogenic container, including the boiling cryogenic liquid in the inner surface of the container. This mathematical model describes the temperature state of the thin-walled shell of cylindrical cryogenic tank during filling and emptying. The work also presents a quantitative analysis of this model in case of fixed liquid level, its movement at a constant speed, and harmonic oscillations relative to a middle position. The quantitative analysis of this model has allowed to find the limit options for quasi-stationary temperature distribution along the shell generatrix in the moving coordinate system with an increase in the rate of filling or emptying the tank. Solution of a non-stationary heat conduction problem in moving coordinate system for unwetted part of the shell containers by the integral Laplace transform method is used to estimate the time required to define a quasi-stationary temperature distribution in this part of the shell.DOI: 10.7463/mathm.0615.082935