A modified local thermal non-equilibrium model of transient phase-change transpiration cooling for hypersonic thermal protection

Abstract

Aiming to efficiently simulate the transient process of transpiration cooling with phase change and reveal the convection mechanism between fluid and porous media particles in a continuum scale, a new two-phase mixture model is developed by incorporating the local thermal non-equilibrium effect. Considering the low-pressure and high overload working conditions of hypersonic flying, the heat and mass transfer induced by capillary and inertial body forces are analyzed for sub-cooled, saturated and super-heated states of water coolant under varying saturation pressures. After the validation of the model, transient simulations for different external factors, including spatially-varied heat flux, coolant mass flux, time-dependent external pressure and aircraft acceleration are conducted. The results show that the vapor blockage patterns at the outlet are highly dependent on the injection mass flux value and the external pressure, and the reduced saturation temperature at low external pressure leads to early boiling off and vapor blockage. The motion of flying has a large influence on the cooling effect, as the inertial force could change the flow pattern of the fluid inside significantly. The comparison of the results from 2-D and 3-D simulations suggests that 3-D simulation shall be conducted for practical application of transpiration cooling, as the thermal protection efficiency may be overestimated by the 2-D results due to the assumption of an infinite width length of the porous plate.