Experimental Investigation of Subcooled Vertical Upward Flow Boiling in a Narrow Rectangular Channel

Abstract

Accurate models for the onset of nucleate boiling, density of active nucleation sites (Na), bubble departure size (Dd), and departure frequency (fd) are essential to the success of computational fluid dynamics analysis of two-phase thermal-hydraulics involving subcooled flow boiling in nuclear reactor systems. This work presents an experimental study of subcooled flow boiling in a vertical upward narrow rectangular channel that mimics the flow passage in the plate fuel assembly of boiling water reactors. The experiments are conducted over a range of mass flux (G = 122–657 kg/m2s), inlet subcooling (ΔTsub = 4.7–33.3˚C), and heat flux (q″ = 1.7–28.9 W/cm2). Based on the experimental data, empirical correlations are developed for the prediction of onset of nucleate boiling, Na, Dd, and fd for given flow conditions. These correlations are valid in the nucleate boiling regime when the wall superheat is less than 12°C and can be incorporated in the computational fluid dynamics codes to enable more precise simulation of subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and two-phase flow in nuclear energy applications.