Coupling heat transfer and fluid flow solvers for multi-disciplinary simulations.

摘要

The purpose of this study is to build, test, validate, and implement two heat transfer models, and couple them to an existing fluid flow solver, which can then be used for simulating multi-disciplinary problems. The first model is for heat conduction computation, the other one is a quasi-one-dimensional water cooling channel model for water-cooled jacket structural analysis. The first model employs the integral, conservative form of the thermal energy equation, which is discretized by means of a finite-volume numerical scheme. A special algorithm is developed at the interface between the solid and fluid regions, in order to keep the heat flux consistent. The thermal properties of the solid region materials can be temperature dependent, and different materials can be used in different parts of the domains, thanks to a multi-block gridding strategy. The cooling channel flow model is developed by using quasi-one-dimensional conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy, taking into account the effects of heat transfer and friction. It is possible to have phase changes in the channel, and a mixture model is applied, which allows two phases to be present, as long as they move at the same bulk velocity and vapor quality does not exceed relatively small values. The coupling process of both models (with the fluid solver and with each other) is handled within the Loci system, and is detailed in this study. A hot-air nozzle wall problem is simulated, and the computed results are validated with available experimental data. Finally, a more complex case involving the water-cooled nozzle of a RBCC gaseous oxygen/gaseous hydrogen thruster is simulated, which involves all three models, fully coupled. The calculated temperatures in the nozzle wall and at the cooling channel outlet compare favorably with experimental data.