Analysis of the Critical Heat-Flux Condition in High-Pressure Boiling Water Flows

1964 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. E. Tippets

Based on the two-phase flow patterns shown in high-speed motion pictures of the process, a general working equation is derived which relates the critical heat flux for high-pressure bulk boiling water in forced convection to the significant local flow parameters and fluid properties. The equation is applied to a representative selection of several hundred data points from the major available sources for the purpose of investigating trends in the data and to test the validity of the equation.

1964 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. E. Tippets

High-speed motion pictures (4300 pictures/sec) of boiling water flow patterns in conditions of forced flow at 1000 psia pressure in a vertical heated rectangular channel were taken over the range of mass velocities from 50 to 400 lb/sec-ft2, fluid states from bulk subcooled liquid flow to bulk boiling flow at 0.66 steam quality, and heat fluxes up to and including the critical heat flux level. Eighty critical heat flux determinations were made in the course of the experiment at 1000 psia in conditions of bulk boiling. The motion pictures provide photographic evidence of the general arrangement of the flow in conditions of bulk boiling at high pressure with heat fluxes near and including the critical heat flux level.


2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. Doerffer ◽  
D. C. Groeneveld ◽  
K. F. Rudzinski ◽  
I. L. Pioro ◽  
J. W. Martin

Abstract This paper summarizes the effects of various types or numbers of critical-heat-flux (CHF)-enhancing inserts in tubular geometries. The impact of inserts on CHF is frequently expressed by an enhancement ratio K: the ratio of CHF with an insert to the CHF in a bare tube for the same local flow conditions. The impact on K of the following parameters was investigated: (i) fluid type (Freon-134a, water), (ii) axial spacing between inserts, (iii) shape of the insert, (iv) flow blockage of the insert, (v) number of similar/dissimilar insert planes upstream, and (vi) impact of flow conditions. The spacing and flow-obstruction area were found to be the major geometric factors that affected K: by decreasing the relative spacing, L/D, to 16, K can reach a value of from 2 to 3, depending on the flow-obstruction area. Among flow parameters, the critical quality, xc, usually has a strong effect on K: K can increase from a value of 1 to 3, when xc increases from 0 to 0.4 for a mass flux G ≥ 2 Mg/m2s. For G < 2 Mg/m2s, CHF enhancement can disappear or become negative (K < 1). No cumulative effect was found on K for a series of upstream insert planes. CHF enhancement does not depend on fluid type, provided that the conditions in the fluids meet the CHF fluid-to-fluid modelling requirements.


Author(s):  
Aranya Chauhan ◽  
Satish G. Kandlikar

Abstract The current industrial trend requires development of efficient heat dissipation systems. A tapered microgap on the heater surface provides an efficient pool boiling heat transfer technique in dissipating large heat fluxes. This study is focused on capturing the high-speed images of bubble nucleation, growth and expansion processes. The interface velocities are estimated by tracking the interface of the growing bubble. The insight into interface motion will help in estimating the magnitude of the expanding force and predicting the pressure recovery effect during two-phase flow in the gap. The expansion force helps in establishing high flow rates resulting in high heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and critical heat flux (CHF) values. The effect of design parameters such as taper angle and height of the microgap on the bubble growth patterns are evaluated. The results show that the bubbles are nucleated and are then confined in the narrow gap. The tapered configuration propels the leading bubble interface in the flow direction and eventually the entire bubble in that direction. The bubble motion causes liquid to enter from the narrow region of the microgap. This effect, combined with the pressure recovery resulting from the two-phase flow in the expanding section of the microgap provides a bubble pumping mechanism. This configuration results in improving both the critical heat flux and heat transfer coefficient during pool boiling.


Author(s):  
Yosuke Yamagoe ◽  
Taisuke Goto ◽  
Tomio Okawa

The use of high power density core is one of the promising ways to improve economic efficiency of advanced boiling water reactors. It is however known that in boiling two-phase flows, an increase in power density commonly reduces the margin to the onset of unanticipated flow instability. Hence, in the development of a boiling water reactor of high power density core, ability to predict the occurrence of boiling transition is considered indispensable even when the coolant flow rate is not in the steady state. In the present work, sinusoidal oscillation was applied to the inlet mass flux and the experimental measurement of the critical heat flux was carried out under flow oscillation conditions. It was shown that the critical heat flux decreases monotonically with increased values of oscillation amplitude and oscillation period. These results are consistent with experimental data reported by previous investigators. A simple theory was then proposed to estimate the critical heat flux in oscillatory flow condition. Considering the application to the advanced boiling water reactors, the triggering mechanism of the critical heat flux condition is supposed to be the liquid film dryout in annular two-phase flow regime of high vapor quality. Under the flow oscillation condition, it is expected that long waves are formed on a liquid film due to the time variation of inlet mass flux. Assuming that the wave evolution within a boiling channel is influential in the occurrence of the local dryout of a liquid film, an available nonlinear wave theory was applied to the estimation of critical heat flux under the flow oscillation condition. It was demonstrated that the critical heat fluxes measured under the oscillatory conditions agree with the proposed theory fairly well.


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