Aerospace Engineering

A draining oxidizer tank with a low gravity coast,
propellant settling, and engine restart. It is
similar to a 2nd stage launch vehicle tank.

Fuel acquisition is one of many challenges FLOW-3D can solve. Due to the complexity of the maneuvers and the interaction of fuel dynamics with the spacecraft dynamics FLOW-3D is well suited to model operations such as fuel acquisition shown here. Any maneuver can be simulated using its non-inertial reference frames and coupled rigid-body dynamics. The motion and position of fuel in a microgravity environment is accurately simulated with powerful surface tension and wall adhesion model.

Related links:
Read more in our Aerospace Tech Papers

Download the Aerospace Brochure (pdf)

See how ZARM uses FLOW-3D

CFD-101 – Free Surface Modeling Methods

The presence of a free or moving boundary introduces serious complications for any type of flow analysis. For all but the simplest of problems, it is necessary to resort to numerical solutions. Even then, however, free surfaces require the introduction of special methods to define their location, their movement and their influence on a flow.

In the following discussion we briefly review the types of numerical approaches that have been used to model free surfaces, indicating the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Read more in CFD-101 >