Critical Heat Flux During Submerged Jet Impingement Boiling of Saturated Water at Sub-Atmospheric Conditions

Abstract

Experimental data for critical heat flux (CHF) during submerged jet impingement boiling of saturated water at sub-atmospheric conditions is presented. Experiments are performed at three sub-atmospheric pressures of 0.176 bar, 0.276 bar, and 0.477 bar with corresponding fluid saturation temperatures of about 57.3 °C, 67.2 °C, and 80.2 °C. Jet exit Reynolds numbers ranging from 0 to 14,000 are considered for two different heater surface finishes at a fixed nozzle to surface spacing of six nozzle diameters. CHF correlations from literature on jet impingement boiling are compared against the experimental data and found to poorly predict CHF under the conditions considered. A CHF correlation that captures the entire experimental data set within an average error of ±3 percent and a maximum error of ±13 percent is developed to serve as a predictive tool for the range of conditions examined.