Expansion Waves at the Outlet of the Supersonic Two-Phase Flow Nozzle

Abstract

Two-phase flow nozzles are used in the total flow system of geothermal power plants and in the ejector of the refrigeration cycle, etc. One of the most important functions of the two-phase flow nozzle is converting two-phase flow thermal energy into kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of the two-phase flow exhausted from a nozzle is available for all applications of this type. In the case of non-best fitting expansion conditions, when the operation conditions of the supersonic nozzle are widely chosen, there exist shock waves or expansion waves at the outlet of the nozzle. Those waves affect largely the energy conversion efficiency of the two-phase flow nozzle. The purpose of the present study is to elucidate character of the expansion waves at the outlet of the supersonic two-phase flow nozzle. High-pressure hot water blowdown experiments have been carried out. The decompression curves of the expansion waves are measured by changing the flowrate in the nozzle and inlet temperature of the hot water. The back pressures of the nozzle are also changed in those experiments. The expansion angles of the two-phase flow flushed out from the nozzle are measured by means of the photograph. The experimental results show that the decompression curves are different from those predicted by the isentropic homogeneous two-phase flow theory. The regions where the expansion waves occur become wide due to the increased outlet speed of the two-phase flow. The qualitative dependency of this expansion character is the same as the isentropic homogeneous flow, but the values obtained from the experiments are quite different. When the back pressure of the nozzle is higher, these regions do not become small in spite of the supersonic two-phase flow. This means that the disturbance in the downstream propagates to the upstream. It is shown by the present experiments that the expansion waves in the supersonic two-phase flow of water have a subsonic feature. The measured expansion angles become larger with increasing flowrate of the two-phase flow and decreasing back pressures.