Entrainment and desposition rates of droplets in annular two-phase flow

Abstract

The droplet entrainment from a liquid film is important to the mass, momentum, and energy transfer process in annular two-phase flow. For example, the amount of entrainment as well as the rate of entrainment significantly affect the occurrences of the dryout, whereas the post CHF heat transfer depends strongly on the entrainment and droplet sizes. Despite the importance of the entrainment rate, there have been no satisfactory correlations available in the literature. In view of these, correlations for entrainment rate covering both entrance region and equilibrium region have been developed from a simple model in collaboration with data. Results show that the entrainment rate varies considerably in the entrainment development region. However, at a certain distance from an inlet it attains an equilibrium value. A simple approximate correlation has been obtained for the equilibrium state where entrainment rate and deposition rate become equal. The result indicates that the equilibrium entrainment rate is proportional to Weber number based on the hydraulic diameter of a tube.