Speakers
Description
Foam insulations are important thermal control elements for cryogenic upper stages. One of these, called "External Thermal Insulation" (ETI), was developed at ArianeGroup GmbH in Bremen for first use on Ariane 6. In particular, the thermal conductivity of the current ETI configuration has been characterized by tests. Further developments of the ETI are planned, where the thermal conductivity of new foam configurations will be predicted on the basis of the already available information and upcoming characterization measurement to be defined.
For the prediction of the thermal conductivity of new foam configurations, the method of "Surrogate Modeling" is applied. The Surrogate Model is constructed on the basis of the data points, reproducing as accurately as possible the "input-output" behavior. As an interim step, the data points of the sampling plan are complemented with theoretical points derived from a model based on physical relations. On the long run, the most relevant theoretical points will be replaced by additional characterization measurements. The thermal performance of a new ETI configuration in an atmosphere with a relevant helium content is studied.
