An Advanced Numerical Tool for Simulating and Optimizing Spray Cooling in Micro-Gravity

Under AFRL SBIR Contract F33615-03-M-2384 Phase I, CFDRC has developed and demonstrated the foundation of a comprehensive code for modeling spray cooling hardware for micro-gravity applications. The code includes effects that are critical in micro-gravity and cannot be thoroughly investigated using gravity dominated ground-based experiments. In Phase II, this code will be further developed, refined and validated. Two programs selected as test beds for the code are Electromagnetic Control of High-Heat Flux Spray Impingement Boiling Under Microgravity at West Virginia University and the in-house program on Microgravity Spray Cooling at AFRL. These programs will provide critical ground-based and flight data needed to calibrate and validate the simulation code. In exchange, the tool can offer direct benefit to these programs by: 1. Helping evaluate and down-select proposed designs. 2. Aiding in the reduction and interpretation of experimental results. 3. Optimizing the operating parameters 4. Extrapolating to micro-gravity conditions 5. Trouble shooting any problems that may arise during the development and deployment of the hardware In Phase III, the knowledge and simulation software developed in Phase II, will be used as enabling technology for the design of spray cooling equipment for military and civilian applications.