Technical Paper
Steady State and Transient Loop Heat Pipe Modeling
2000-07-10
2000-01-2316
The NASA-standard thermohydraulic analyzer, SINDA/FLUINT (Ref 1), has been used to model various aspects of loop heat pipe* (LHP) operation for more than 12 years. Indeed, this code has many features that were specifically designed for just such specialized tasks, and is unique in this respect. Furthermore, SINDA is commonly used at the vehicle (integration) level; has a large user base both inside and outside the aerospace industry; has several graphical user interfaces, preprocessors, postprocessors; has strong links to CAD and structural tools; and has built-in optimization, data correlation, parametric analysis, reliability estimation, and robust design tools. Nonetheless, the LHP community tends to ignore these capabilities, yearning instead for “simpler” methods.