Abstract
The review of numerical studies on supercritical pressure (SCP) coolants heat transfer and hydraulic resistance in turbulent flow in vertical round tubes based on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and different models for turbulent viscosity is presented. The paper is the first part of the general analysis, the works based on using algebraic turbulence models of different complexity are considered in it.
The main attention is paid to Petukhov-Medvetskaya and Popov et al. models. They were developed especially for simulating heat transfer in tubes of the coolants with significantly variable properties (droplet liquids, gases, SCP fluids) under heating and cooling conditions. These predictions were verified on the entire reliable experimental data base.
It is shown that in the case of turbulent flow in vertical round tubes these models make it possible predicting heat transfer and hydraulic resistance characteristics of SCP flows that agree well with the existed reliable experimental data on normal and certain modes of deteriorated heat transfer, if significant influence of buoyancy and radical flow restructuring are absent.
For the more complicated cases than a flow in round vertical tubes, as well as for the case of rather strong buoyancy effect, more sophisticated prediction techniques must be applied. The state-of-the-art of these methods and the problems of their application are considered in the Part II of the analysis.