Comparison and Improvements of Correlations for Film Boiling in Tubes

Author(s):  
E.-L. Pelletier ◽  
L. K. H. Leung ◽  
A. Teyssedou ◽  
R. Girard

Two methodologies to predict film boiling heat-transfer coefficient have been assessed against experimental wall-temperature measurements obtained under steady-state conditions with water flow inside vertical tubes. One of these methodologies employs heat flux as the independent parameter while the other uses wall temperature as the independent parameter. The film boiling heat transfer consists of developing and fully developed film-boiling regions. Film boiling heat-transfer coefficients are predicted using the film boiling look-up tables for fully developed flow. Developing film-boiling effect is accounted for using modification factors to the fully developed heat-transfer coefficient. Wall-temperature distributions along uniformly heated tubes were established using a semi-analytical scheme and compared against measurements. Both methodologies have provided good predictions. However, the overall prediction accuracy for the heat-flux-based correlation is slightly better than that for the wall-temperature-based correlation. Wall temperatures predicted with the heat-flux-based correlation follow closely measurements at the developing post-dryout region. The wall superheat correlation predicts a sharp temperature rise once the critical heat flux is exceeded, resulting in discrepancies between predictions and measurements of wall temperature and overpredictions of the maximum temperature. The wall-temperature-based modification factor for the developing film-boiling region has been revised using the tube heat-transfer database to improve the prediction accuracy of the wall temperature.

Author(s):  
Audrius Jasiulevicius ◽  
Rafael Macian-Juan

This paper presents the results of the assessment and analysis of TRACE v4.160 heat transfer predictions in the post-CHF (critical heat flux) region and discusses the possibilities to improve the TRACE v4.160 code predictions in the film boiling heat transfer when applying different film boiling correlations. For this purpose, the TRACE v4.160-calculated film boiling heat flux and the resulting maximum inner wall temperatures during film boiling in single tubes were compared with experimental data obtained at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. The experimental database included measurements for pressures ranging from 30 to 200 bar and coolant mass fluxes from 500 to 3000 kg/m2s. It was found that TRACE v4.160 does not produce correct predictions of the film boiling heat flux, and consequently of the maximum inner wall temperature in the test section, under the wide range of conditions documented in the KTH experiments. In particular, it was found that the standard TRACE v4.160 underpredicts the film boiling heat transfer coefficient at low pressure-low mass flux and high pressure-high mass flux conditions. For most of the rest of the investigated range of parameters, TRACE v4.160 overpredicts the film boiling heat transfer coefficient, which can lead to non-conservative predictions in applications to nuclear power plant analyses. Since no satisfactory agreement with the experimental database was obtained with the standard TRACE v4.160 film boiling heat transfer correlations, we have added seven film boiling correlations to TRACE v4.160 in order to investigate the possibility to improve the code predictions for the conditions similar to the KTH tests. The film boiling correlations were selected among the most commonly used film boiling correlations found in the open literature, namely Groeneveld 5.7, Bishop (2 correlations), Tong, Konkov, Miropolskii and Groeneveld-Delorme correlations. The only correlation among the investigated, which resulted in a significant improvement of TRACE predictions, was the Groeneveld 5.7. It was found, that replacing the current film boiling correlation (Dougall-Rohsenow) for the wall-togas heat transfer with Groeneveld 5.7 improves the code predictions for the film boiling heat transfer at high qualities in single tubes in the entire range of pressure and coolant mass flux considered.


Author(s):  
Yanfeng Fan ◽  
Ibrahim Hassan

Flow oscillation is a crucial issue for the development of flow boiling heat transfer in the applications. Inlet orifice has been proven be an option to eliminate the oscillation. However, the effects of inlet orifice on critical heat flux and flow boiling heat transfer coefficient are lack of study. In this work, the effects of inlet restriction on critical heat flux and heat transfer coefficient in single horizontal microtube under uniform heating condition is experimentally investigated using FC-72 as working fluid. A stainless steel microtube with an inner diameter of 889 μm is selected as main microtube. Two smaller microtubes are assembled at the inlet of main microtube to achieve the restriction configurations of 50% and 20% area ratios. The experimental measurement is carried out at mass fluxes ranging from 160–870 kg/m2·s and heat fluxes varying from 6–170 kW/m2. Two saturation pressures, 10 and 45 kPa, are tested. The experimental results of critical heat flux and two phase heat transfer coefficient obtained in the microtube without orifice are compared with the existing correlations. The addition of an orifice does not enhance the normal critical heat flux but increases the premature critical heat flux. In aspect of heat transfer, the orifice shows improvement on heat transfer coefficient at low mass flux and high saturation pressure.


Author(s):  
K. S. Park ◽  
W. H. Choo ◽  
K. H. Bang

The flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of R-22 in small hydraulic diameter tubes has been experimentally studied. Both brass and aluminum round tubes of 1.66 mm inside diameter are used for the test section. The ranges of the major experimental parameters are 300∼600 kg/m2s of refrigerant mass flux, 10∼20 kW/m2 of the wall heat flux, 0.0∼0.9 of the inlet vapor quality. The experimental result showed that the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient in this small tubes are in the range of 2∼4 kW/m2K and it varies only by heat flux, independent of mass flux and vapor quality. It is also observed that the heat transfer coefficients in the aluminum tube are up to 50% higher than in the brass tube.


Author(s):  
T. S. Mogaji ◽  
O. A. Sogbesan ◽  
Tien-Chien Jen

Abstract This study presents numerical investigation results of heat flux effect on pool boiling heat transfer enhancement during nucleate boiling heat transfer of water. The simulation was performed for five different heated surfaces such as: brass, copper, mild steel, stainless steel and aluminum using ANSYS simulation software at 1 atmospheric pressure. The samples were heated in a domain developed for bubble growth during nucleate boiling process under the same operational condition of applied heat flux ranged from 100 to 1000 kW/m2 and their corresponding heat transfer coefficient was obtained numerically. Obtained experimental data of other authors from the open literature result is in close agreement with the simulated data, thus confirming the validity of the CFD simulation method used in this study. It is found that heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing heat flux. The results revealed that in comparison to other materials tested, better heat transfer performance up to 38.5% and 7.11% is observed for aluminum and brass at lower superheated temperature difference conditions of 6.96K and 14.01K respectively. This behavior indicates better bubble development and detachment capability of these heating surface materials and could be used in improving the performance of thermal devices toward producing compact and miniaturized equipment.


Author(s):  
Chen Li ◽  
G. P. Peterson ◽  
Yaxiong Wang

Evaporation/boiling from surfaces coated with multiple, uniform layers of sintered, isotropic, copper-mesh is studied experimentally. The investigation focuses on the effect of the wick thickness on the steady-state evaporation/boiling heat transfer coefficient and the critical heat flux under atmospheric pressure conditions. An optimal sintering process was developed and employed to prepare the test articles. This process minimizes the interface thermal contact resistance between the heated wall and wick, as well as enhancing the contact conditions between the layers of copper mesh. Due to the reduction in the thermal contact resistance between the wall and copper mesh, extremely high evaporation/boiling heat transfer coefficients were achieved. These values, which varied with input heat flux and wick thickness, were from 5 to 20 times higher than those previously reported by other researchers. The critical heat flux (CHF) was also significantly enhanced. The experimental results also indicated that while the evaporation/boiling heat transfer coefficient is not affected by wick thickness, the CHF for steady-state operation is strongly dependent on the wick layer thickness. In addition, the CHF increases proportionally with the wick thickness when the wick structure, porosity and pore size are held constant. Sample structure and fabrication processes as well as test procedures are described and discussed in detail and the experimental results and observations are systematically presented and analyzed. Evaporation/boiling Heat transfer regimes from these wick structures are identified and discussed based on the visual observations of the phase-change phenomena and the relative relationship between the heat flux and superheat.


Author(s):  
Rashid Ali ◽  
Bjo¨rn Palm ◽  
Mohammad H. Maqbool

In this paper the experimental flow boiling heat transfer results of a minichannel are presented. A series of experiments was conducted to measure the heat transfer coefficients in a minichannel made of stainless steel (AISI 316) having an internal diameter of 1.7mm and a uniformly heated length of 220mm. R134a was used as working fluid and experiments were performed at two different system pressures corresponding to saturation temperatures of 27 °C and 32 °C. Mass flux was varied from 50 kg/m2 s to 600 kg/m2 s and heat flux ranged from 2kW/m2 to 156kW/m2. The test section was heated directly using a DC power supply. The direct heating of the channel ensured uniform heating and heating was continued until dry out was reached. The experimental results show that the heat transfer coefficient increases with imposed wall heat flux while mass flux and vapour quality have no considerable effect. Increasing the system pressure slightly enhances the heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer coefficient is reduced as dryout is reached. It is observed that dryout phenomenon is accompanied with fluctuations and a larger standard deviation in outer wall temperatures.


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