Effects of inclination and flow velocity on steam condensation consisting of air on tube bundle external surfaces

Abstract

Steam condensation with existence of air is an important thermal hydraulic phenomenon in reactor containment. Previous investigations mostly focused on the surfaces of plates or tube bundles which are in parallel with the gas flow direction, and discussions on heat transfer surfaces with various inclination angles were merely restricted to plates. In addition, there is limited information about the condensation promotion effect caused by enlarged gas flow velocity at different tube inclination angles. To investigate the coupling effects of tube inclination and flow velocity, numerical simulations were carried on a 3 × 3 tube bundle. The local thermohydraulic profiles and heat transfer mechanism of steam condensation were analyzed carefully. The results indicate that the increase of inclination angle and flow velocity can dramatically promote condensation heat transfer. At the velocity of 0.3 m/s, the condensation heat transfer enhanced 327.8% as the tube bundle orientation changes from vertical to horizontal. At the inclination angle of 0°, the condensation heat transfer increased 223.2% as flow velocity increased from 0.3 m/s to 3 m/s. The inhibition effect and stack effect in tube bundle varied by the tube inclination and flow velocity.