Numerical simulation and microgravity experiment of fluid flow in the vane type tank

Propellant tank is an important component of spacecraft, which determines the life of spacecraft. As a key unit for storage and management fluid on the spacecraft, the vane type tank can provide liquid without gas for thrusters. And the propellant management device(PMD) is the core component in the tank. In the paper, numerical simulation and microgravity experiment have been carried out to study the performance of propellant management. By using a VOF two-phase flow model, the fluid behaviour in tank is numerically simulated. By microgravity drop tower tests, the fluid distribution is obtained actually. The results from numerical simulation are in good agreement with ones from the microgravity drop tower tests. It shows that the PMD of the vane type tank can availably achieve the separation between liquid and gas interface and providing liquid without gas in microgravity environment.