In support of NASA's former Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development (PCAD) project, a liquid oxygen (LO 2 )/liquid methane (LCH 4 ) Integrated Propulsion System Test Bed (IPSTB) was conceived, designed, and advanced to the Critical Design Review (CDR) stage at the Johnson Space Center. The IPSTB's primary objective is to study LO 2 /LCH 4 propulsion system steady state and transient performance, operational characteristics and to validate computer models of a LO2/LCH4 propulsion system for use in future flight design work.The baseline configuration was designed to accommodate one 6,050 lbf main engine, four 100 lbf reaction control engines (RCE's), and several cold flow simulators providing flow rates representative of 25 to 200 lbf thrusters. The IPSTB feed system includes four ground based, spherical propellants tanks capable of supporting up to 240 seconds of main engine firing and simultaneous RCE profiles, four RCE pods housing the RCE engines and simulators, and a Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) for thermal conditioning of the lines and tanks. Additionally, a liquid nitrogen/liquid methane heat exchanger, to be used in conjunction with the TVS and aerogel insulation, were planned to give the system the capability to deliver densified/sub-cooled cryogenic methane to the engine inlets. Two phase thermal and dynamic fluid flow models of the IPSTB were built to predict the system performance characteristics under a variety of operating modes and to aid in the overall system design work. While at ambient temperature and simulated altitude conditions at the White Sands Test Facility, the IPSTB and its approximately 600 channels of system instrumentation would be operated to perform a variety of integrated main engine and RCE hot fire tests. The pressure, temperature, and flow rate data collected during this testing would then be used to validate the analytical models of the IPSTB's https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20110012829 2018-05-10T15:42:53+00:00Z thermal and dynamic fluid flow performance. An overview of the IPSTB design and analytical model development will be presented. In support of NASA's Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development (PCAD) project, a liquid oxygen (LO 2 )/liquid methane (LCH 4 ) Integrated Propulsion System Test Bed (IPSTB) was designed and advanced to the Critical Design Review (CDR) stage at the Johnson Space Center. The IPSTB's primary objectives are to study LO 2 /LCH 4 propulsion system steady state and transient performance, operational characteristics and to validate fluid and thermal models of a LO2/LCH4 propulsion system for use in future flight design work. Two phase thermal and dynamic fluid flow models of the IPSTB were built to predict the system performance characteristics under a variety of operating modes and to aid in the overall system design work. While at ambient temperature and simulated altitude conditions at the White Sands Test Facility, the IPSTB and its approximately 600 channels of system instrumentation would be operated to perform a variety of inte...

The Propulsion Systems Branch at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) has developed a parametric analytical tool to address the need to rapidly predict heat leak into propellant distribution lines based on insulation type, installation technique, line supports, penetrations, and instrumentation. The Propellant Feed System Analytical Tool (PFSAT) will also determine the optimum orifice diameter for an optional thermodynamic vent system (TVS) to counteract heat leak into the feed line and ensure temperature constraints at the end of the feed line are met. PFSAT was developed primarily using Fortran 90 code because of its number crunching power and the capability to directly access real fluid property subroutines in the Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties (REFPROP) Database developed by NIST. A Microsoft Excel front end user interface was implemented to provide convenient portability of PFSAT among a wide variety of potential users and its ability to utilize a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) developed in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The focus of PFSAT is on-orbit reaction control systems and orbital maneuvering systems, but it may be used to predict heat leak into ground-based transfer lines as well. PFSAT is expected to be used for rapid initial design of cryogenic propellant distribution lines and thermodynamic vent systems. Once validated, PFSAT will support concept trades for a variety of cryogenic fluid transfer systems on spacecraft, including planetary landers, transfer vehicles, and propellant depots, as well as surface-based transfer systems. The details of the development of PFSAT, its user interface, and the program structure will be presented.

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