NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF VIBRATIONS ON A FREE-SURFACEFLOW UNDER MICROGRAVITY

The goal of the present study is to have a better understanding of the behaviour of propellant in the ''surface tension'' tanks of satellite s. In this paper, we present ''ARGO'', a finite element code which mod els a free surface flow subject to small vibrations under microgravity . This software is based on the time-dependent linear three-dimensiona l theory of inviscid fluids. The comparison with analytical results fo r simple cases helps to understand the behaviour of the capillary wave s, whose velocity and wavelength are linked to the depth of liquid. Mo reover, this software includes a modal analysis part which contributes to forecasting the fluid instabilities in presence of perturbations d ue either to pressure variations al the tank exit, or to structural mo vements governed by a Mathieu's equation. During development of this s oftware, the numerical results have been compared with experimental re sults performed on the ground, principally photographs. The limits of the software and future developments are presented.