Experimental investigation on heat transfer characteristics of water in inclined downward tube of a supercritical pressure CFB boiler

Abstract

In this study, experiments have been performed for an investigation on heat transfer of water in an inclined downward tube with an inner diameter of 20 mm and an inclined angle of 45° from the horizon, with the range of pressure from 11.5 to 28 MPa, mass flux from 450 to 1550 kg/(m2 s), and heat flux from 50 to 585 kW/m2. Based on the experimental data, the temperature distribution in the tube wall was derived. The heat transfer characteristics of inclined downward flow were compared with that of vertical downward flow. The effects of heat flux on wall temperature were analyzed and the corresponding empirical correlations were presented. The results show that heat transfer characteristics of water in the inclined downward tube are not uniform along the circumference from the top surface to the bottom surface. An increase in heat flux exacerbates the non-uniformity. At subcritical pressures, both dry-out and departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) occur at the top surface of the inclined downward tube; inversely, only dry-out takes place on the bottom surface of the inclined downward tube and in the vertical downward tube. At near-critical pressures, DNB and dry-out occur in the comparing tubes with greater possibility. At supercritical pressures, heat transfer gets enhanced in the pseudo-critical enthalpy region; in the high enthalpy region, the top surface temperature of the inclined downward tube decreases obviously.