Experimental study on steam plume shape characteristics for bevelled spray nozzles exhausting into quiescent water

Abstract

Steam-water direct contact condensation phenomenon is being widely used in many industries including chemical, thermal and especially in nuclear industry due to its efficient heat and mass exchange capabilities. The present experimental study explores the underlying physics of the steam cavity/plume shapes by condensing supersonic steam exhausting from five different bevelled nozzles into quiescent water tank. Based on the high speed image capturing methodology, the effects of steam pressure, water temperature and nozzle exit inclination angle on the cavity shape characteristics have been studied. Existence of six different plume shapes (oscillatory, conical, expansion–contraction, double expansion contraction, cylindrical and divergent) have been identified. The results show that for a fixed nozzle geometry, with the increase in water temperature and steam pressure, the steam jet becomes lengthy. However, under the same steam pressure and water temperature conditions, the plume shortens with the increase in nozzle exit inclination angle. The dimensionless jet length has been found in the range of 1.26–5.64. Furthermore, it has been observed that steam plume exhausting from bevelled nozzle undergoes deflection from its nozzle symmetry axis possibly due to the pressure difference between upper and lower lip of nozzle. This deflection may either be upward oriented at high steam pressure or downward deflected at lower steam pressure. Additionally, on the basis of findings from 175 No’s of experiments, condensation regime maps have also been developed for bevelled spray nozzle.