LIQUID SETTLING IN LARGE TANKS,

The results discussed showed that primary aspects of the settling flow can be validly scaled by using Bond number, at least within the range covered by the investigation. Liquid level in the test vessel was not found to have an effect on the initial settling flow. Secondary flow characteristics such as viscous effects are not scaled by the Bond number. The physical explanation of the fact that Bond number was found to describe primary aspects of the settling flow for a wide range of vessel sizes, acceleration levels, and test liquids rests on the discussion of Taylor instabilities. Basic characteristics of the settling flow observed in the experiments are in general the same characteristics that were predicted on the basis of the Taylor instability. Within this general class of flows, differences between various specific types of flow were shown by the experiments to depend on initial conditions at the interface. Since the interface is essentially static immediately following capsule release or application of ullaging thrust, in the full-scale case, the conditions on which the initial flow behavior is based are determined by the ratio of inertial to surface tension forces, or Bond number. Thus the basic characteristics of the entire flow should depend on the initial Bond number, as was found experimentally. Author