Study on thermal stratification in rocket liquid oxygen tank with natural circulation precooling loop

A numerical investigation is performed on the physical field of rocket tank with natural circulation precooling loop based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The results show that convection heat transfer is dominant in the bulk above the return inlet position and the heat conduction takes place chiefly below the position. The axial thermal stratification is produced in the main region of tank and the radial stratification appears only in the bottom, and the lowest temperature region moves towards the opposite bottom header region depart from the sidewall near the return position.