The Configuration of Circulating Unsteady Flows in the Spacecraft Spherical Tank

Abstract

The proposed material presents the results of experimental and theoretical studies of the hydrodynamic mechanism for the development of secondary circulating flows in spherical geometry tanks as applied to the tasks of ensuring flight stability and effective controllability of a spacecraft at near-Earth orbit. It has been established that secondary flows arising in the reservoir meridional planes have the form of circulations (one or several) and are capable to influence the distribution of velocity vector components—azimuthal, radial, and meridional.

In turn, the hydrodynamic picture of the three-dimensional flow significantly affects the distribution of force effects from the liquid to the tank walls and the internal guiding baffles, which provides the basis for their more accurate calculation and accounting in the onboard software package of the spacecraft. Noticeable differences between the experimental results and theoretical data obtained by other authors are established.

The velocity profiles constructed from the measurement results give a complete three-dimensional picture of the hydrodynamic mechanism for the circulations development and their effect on the circular torque or pressure distribution on the radial damping baffles.