Status report on the THROHPUT transient heat pipe modeling code.

摘要

Heat pipes are structures which transport heat by the evaporation and condensation of a working fluid, giving them a high effective thermal conductivity. Many space-based uses for heat pipes have been suggested, and high temperature heat pipes using liquid metals as working fluids are especially attractive for these purposes. These heat pipes are modeled by the THROHPUT code (THROHPUT is an acronym for Thermal Hydraulic Response Of Heat Pipes Under Transients and is pronounced like ''throughput''). Improvements have been made to the THROHPUT code which models transient thermohydraulic heat pipe behavior. The original code was developed as a doctoral thesis research code by Hall. The current emphasis has been shifted from research into the numerical modeling to the development of a robust production code. Several modeling obstacles that were present in the original code have been eliminated, and several additional features have been added.