• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.1152-1166
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• 2023

The bubbly flow of air or steam in subcooled water are investigated here in several test cases, characterized by different pipe sizes, bubble dimensions and flow rates, by means of CFD using a Eulerian-Eulerian approach. The performance of models that differ for the turbulence closure in the continuous phase, as well as for the description of the lift force on the dispersed phase, are compared in detail. When air is considered, the space of the experimental parameters leading to a reasonable performance for the selected models are identified and discussed, while the issues left in the modelling of the concurrent condensation are highlighted for the cases where steam is used.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2029-2038
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• 2024

A deep understanding of the characteristics and mechanism of geyser boiling and capillary pumping is necessary to optimize a high-temperature sodium heat pipe. In this work, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) two-phase model and the capillary force model in the mesh wick were used to model the complex phase change and fluid flow in the heat pipe. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations successfully predicted the process of bubble nucleation, growth, aggregation, and detachment from the wall in the liquid pool of the evaporation section of the heat pipe in horizontal and tilted states, as well as the reflux phenomenon of capillary suction within the wick. The accuracy and stability of the capillary force model within the wick were verified. In addition, the causes of geyser boiling in heat pipes were analyzed by extracting the oscillation distribution of heat pipe wall temperature. The results show that adding the capillary force model within the wick structure can reasonably simulate the liquid backflow phenomenon at the condensation; Under the horizontal and inclined operating conditions of the heat pipe, the phenomenon of local dry-out will occur, resulting in a sharp increase in local temperature. The speed of bubble detachment and the timely reflux of liquid sodium (condensate) replenishment in the wick play a vital role in the geyser temperature oscillation of the tube wall. The numerical simulation method and the results of this study are anticipated to provide a good reference for the investigation of geyser boiling in high-temperature heat pipes.

• 대한기계학회논문집
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.1264-1274
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• 1994

Heat transfer performance of integral-fin tube which is used in recipro turbo refrigerator or high compact heat exchangers is studied. Eight tubes with trapezoidal shaped integral-fins having fin densities from 748 to 1654 fpm and 10, 30 internal grooves are tested. A plain tube having the same(inner and outer) diameter as the fin tubes is also tested for comparison. Pool boiling heat transfer of R-11 is investigated experimentally and theoretically on single tube arrangement. The refrigerant evaporates at saturation state of 1 bar on the outside tube surface and heat is supplied by not water which circulates inside of the tube. From the result of eight fin tubes and one plain tube tested, a tube having 1299 fpm-30 grooves shows the best performance. A maximum overall heat transfer coefficient of this tube is about 4000 $W/m^{2}K$ at 2.8m/s of water velocity. The maximum heat transfer enhancement (i.e., the ratio of overall heat transfer coefficients of finned to plain tubes)is about 2.1.

• 한국전산유체공학회지
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.21-25
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• 2007

A general purpose program NUFLEX has been extended for two-phase flows with topologically complex interface and cavitation flows with liquid-vapor phase change caused by large pressure drop. In analysis of two-phase flow, the phase interfaces are tracked by employing a LS(Level Set) method. Compared with the VOF(Volume-of-Fluid) method based on a non-smooth volume-fraction function, the LS method can calculate an interfacial curvature more accurately by using a smooth distance function. Also, it is quite straightforward to implement for 3-D irregular meshes compared with the VOF method requiring much more complicated geometric calculations. Also, the cavitation process is computed by including the effects of evaporation and condensation for bubble formation and collapse as well as turbulence in flows. The volume-faction and continuity equations are adapted for cavitation models with phase change. The LS and cavitation formulation are implemented into a general purpose program for 3-D flows and verified through several test problems.