Thomas, S., and Yerkes, K., 1997, "Quasi-Steady State Performance of a Heat Pipe Subjected to Transient Acceleration Loadings," AIAA Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, Vol. 11, pp. 306-309.

 The analysis of heat pipes has usually been restricted to the inclusion of a static acceleration field, such as that due to gravity. While this analysis is appropriate in many applications, it is not valid in the assessment of the thermal performance of heat pipes in acceleration fields that vary with time. For instance, heat pipes have been proposed for use aboard fighter aircraft such as the Navy F/A-18 to act as heat sinks for electronics packages driving aileron or trailing edge flap actuators. During combat, transient acceleration fields of up to 9-g’s will be present on the aircraft. Therefore, knowledge of the thermal performance of heat pipes under transient acceleration loadings is of importance to designers of the electronics packages in need of cooling. The objective of the present experimental investigation is to determine the quasi-steady state thermal resistance of a flexible copper-water heat pipe under transient acceleration loadings with constant heat input. The performance of the heat pipe is examined for the following parameter ranges: Heat input, Q_e = 75 to 150 W; condenser temperature, T_c = 3, 20 and 35° C; and acceleration frequency, f = 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 Hz. The centrifuge radial acceleration loadings ranged from 1.1 to 9.8-g’s for each frequency setting. In addition, the effects of the previous dryout history are noted.