A Modular, Partitioned Solver for Conjugate Heat Transfer in Liquid Hydrogen Tanks

In Liquid Hydrogen (LH₂) tanks, heat transfer from the tank walls to the LH₂ has a significant impact on tank performance and safety. As part of a broader work to develop an accurate, partitioned simulation of LH₂ tanks during flight, we are developing a coupled solver to model this interaction. The solver couples OpenFOAM for the fluid region and a Python-based solid region solver , using the Multiscale Universal Interface (MUI) coupling library to enable communication in a distributed memory fashion. This library allows to leverage spatial and temporal interpolation to demonstrate similar performance compared to existing shared-memory Conjugate Heat Transfer solvers while significantly improving modularity and extensibility. This is essential as the solver will be integrated into ParaSiF, our existing partitioned solver for fluidstructure interaction (FSI), enabling full multi-physics tank simulations.