EUCLID satellite: Sloshing model development through computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

This paper presents a research work estimating the impact of propellant sloshing on the pointing-stability of the EUCLID satellite, for a pre-design phase of the project. The analysis is carried out by means of computational fluid dynamics. Two tank fill ratios have been considered: 22% and 50%, with an elastomeric and deformable bladder. To support the analysis, two different test cases have been created for the validation of the numerical approach. The first case is related to the analysis of a cylindrical tank with no bladder, and its importance consists in the determination of the correct computational fluid dynamics setup for sloshing simulations. For this test case, sloshing frequency is compared between computational results and the results of the analytical models available. The second test case is created to verify the procedure adopted for bladder simulation; therefore, it consists in the numerical simulation of a bladdered tank. For this case, the available experimental results have been used for a comparison with the output of the computational fluid dynamics analysis. This work is the first aiming at representing bladdered tanks using computational fluid dynamics without recurring to fluid–structure interaction techniques. Moreover, it proposes a new method for the calibration of the traditional sloshing lumped model, based on computational fluid dynamics, which could reduce development costs of experiments.