Numerical Modeling of Movements of Taylor Bubbles in Stagnant Liquid Hydrogen Fluids

Eco-friendly and low-temperature liquid hydrogen has been used as propellants for the launching of rockets. As the low-temperature two-phase gas-liquid flow differs from room-temperature flows, studying the motion of bubbles in the liquid hydrogen fluid is of great importance. By using the volume of the fluid model on the Fluent software, we perform two-dimensional numerical modeling of single Taylor bubble rising movement and double Taylor bubbles coalescence in stagnant liquid hydrogen fluids in vertical and inclined pipe. The results are as follows: for a single Taylor bubble rising in a vertical and inclined pipe, the main hydrodynamic characteristics in the nose area, the liquid film area and the wake region of bubble are determined with the pipe diameter and the inclination angle. Secondly, for double Taylor bubbles rising in a pipe of different inclination angles, the velocity, length and shape of the leading bubble change little, but the velocity and length of the trailing bubbles reduce initially, then increase and reduce again as the separation distance becomes smaller. The research results are helpful to the study of slug flow patterns in cryogenic two-phase flow, and lay a theoretical foundation for the safe transportation of liquid hydrogen propellant in cryogenic pipelines.