Tank Test
By using data from a tank test output, it is possible to obtain the temperature and the mass flow of the gas supplied, which can be used as input to Radioss.
With a tank test it is possible to measure the pressure at the injection point or in the middle of the tank, the two values are equal so the pressure variation is well known. Also, the amount of gas supplied and the characteristics of the gas in the test are known.

The following cases take into account that you may or may not know the injected temperature and the temperature in the tank.
- Initial and injected gas composition Knowing the molecular weight ( MWiMWi ) of each elements and the molar fraction ( XiXi ), it is possible to define the molar weight of the gas ( MWMW ):
(1) MW=∑Xi⋅MWiMW=∑Xi⋅MWiThe average heat capacity, per mass unit of a mixture of gases is given by the Amagat-Leduc equation:(2) Cp(T)=∑mi⋅Cpa∑mi+∑mi⋅Cpb∑miT+∑mi⋅Cpc∑miT2Cp(T)=∑mi⋅Cpa∑mi+∑mi⋅Cpb∑miT+∑mi⋅Cpc∑miT2
Using the previous equation, the heat capacity coefficients ( Cp(T)Cp(T) ) of the initial and injected mixture may be defined.
- The perfect gas equation of state is:
(3) with R=8.314Jmole⋅KR=8.314Jmole⋅KPV=nRT, n=mMWPV=nRT,n=mMW - And the adiabatic equation:
(4) with HH being the total enthalpy of the system (inflator + tank).H=const.H=const.
Here dHoutdHout =0, since the tank test is adiabatic. The constant volume of the tank test means dVdV =0.
⇔Tmix∫0m(in+air)⋅CV(in+air)dT−Tair∫0m(air)⋅CV(air)dT=Tin∫0m(in)⋅CP(in)dT⇔Tmix∫0m(in+air)⋅CV(in+air)dT−Tair∫0m(air)⋅CV(air)dT=Tin∫0m(in)⋅CP(in)dT
⇔m(mix)Tmix(Cpa(mix)+Cpb(mix)Tmix2+Cpc(mix)Tmix23−RMWmix)−m(air)T0(Cpa(air)+Cpb(air)T02+Cpc(air)T023−RMWair)=m(in)Tin(Cpa(in)+Cpb(in)Tin2+Cpc(in)Tin23)
Inflator Temperature
In Equation 6, the unknown variable is only Tini .
- m(in)m(air)=MWairP0VRT0 and n(mix)=m(in)MWin+m(air)MWair
- for i = a to c: Cpi(in),Cpi(air),Cpi(mix) are calculated with Equation 2, and
- Tmix=PtankVtankn(mix)R
Therefore, Equation 6 finds the temperature at the injector Tin of the injected gas by iterating on Tin . First, the temperature is guessed and six iterations are sufficient to converge to the solution.
Mass Flow
- ΔP
- Total pressure variation during the experiment
- ΔM
- Total injected mass

Inflator Gas Velocity
- If the injector temperature is known:
dmdt=vγ(γ−1)CVTindPdt
- If the temperature in the tank is known:
dmdt=Vγ(γ−1)CVT2(TdPdt−PdTdt) or m=PV(γ−1)CVT
Tin=T2γ(dPdtTdPdt−PdTdt) or Tin=Tγ+mγdTdtdmdt
- If the temperature in the tank is constant:
Tin=Tγ