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Joseph A. Neal
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of Missouri - Columbia
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
NASA Mentor: Pete Mazurkivich
Abstract
The vacuum jacketed liquid hydrogen (LH2) Fill and Drain (F&D) Line in the Orbiter is 8 inches in diameter and 11.3 feet long. LH2 passes through this line during the LH2 propellant tank loading process. The outboard F&D valve (PV11) is located at the Mobile Launch Pad (MLP) Tail Service Mast (TSM) and Orbiter interface. As with the other lines in the Main Propulsion System (MPS), the F&D Line is purged with gaseous helium (GHe). Currently, the behavior of the ambient temperature GHe purge flowing into the dead headed cryogenically chilled F&D line and the concentration of the constituents (gaseous hydrogen (GH2) & GHe) in the line after the purge is activated are unknown. A test is being conducted to study this behavior and to anchor various computer models including a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. The test is designed and will be run to mimic flight-like conditions in the Orbiter's F&D Line as closely as possible. Residual Gas Analyzers (RGA) will determine the volumetric concentration in parts per million (ppm) of GHe and GH2 in the test article. Pressures and temperatures in the test article will be monitored and recorded for comparison against previously documented STS 1-4 Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) measurements and STS-26 tanking tests. Specifically, the test data will be used to show the amount of GHe and GH2 present at the inboard F&D valve (PV12) interface at T-0 seconds to determine what constituents may potentially be pulled into the engines resulting from a PV12 failure. These results will help anchor Boeing Integration's analytical model and should be useful for future launch vehicles that use LH2 as a propellant and purge the lines with GHe.
Joe Neal is a junior at the University of Missouri and will be graduating with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering with an aerospace emphasis in May 2012. Joe was born in Columbia, MO, and has lived there his entire life. He was valedictorian of his high school class of 550 students and has maintained a 3.925 GPA throughout his college career. Joe has conducted undergraduate research each semester in college and last summer he interned at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; working in the propulsion systems department. He will be interning at DRS Technologies in St. Louis this summer. Joe plans to attend graduate school at some point for an advanced aeronautical engineering degree and hopes to get a job in the aeronautical engineering field.
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