Numerical Simulation for Capillary Driven Flow in Capsule-Type Vane Tank with Clearances under Microgravity

This paper studies numerical simulation for capillary driven flow in capsule-type vane tank with clearances under microgravity. Unlike conventional vane, the guiding vane and the tank wall are arranged in parallel and have clearances between them. The authors investigated the influence of liquid flow in capillary vane tank under different fill volume, different number of vanes, different clearances epsilon and different guiding vane's widthaand the different guiding vane's marginal angle beta on the climbing rate of liquid and vane's liquid transportation simulated using volume of fraction. The results provide a guideline for the design of the capsule-type vane tank.