Research Progresses of Flash Evaporation in Aerospace Applications

Abstract

Liquid is overheated and evaporated quickly when it enters into the environment with lower saturation pressure than that corresponding to its initial temperature. This phenomenon is known as the flash evaporation. A natural low-pressure environment and flash evaporation have unique characteristics and superiority in high altitude and outer space. Therefore, flash evaporation is widely used in aerospace. In this paper, spray flash evaporation and jet flash evaporation which are two different forms were introduced. Later, key attentions were paid to applications of flash evaporation in aerospace. For example, the flash evaporation has been used in the thermal control system of an aircraft and the propelling system of a microsatellite and oil supply system of a rocket motor. Finally, the latest progresses in the calculation model and numerical simulation of flash evaporation were elaborated.