Heat Transfer Characteristics of Subcooled Water Flow Boiling in Circular Channels With Non-Uniform Heating Fluxes

Abstract

Experiments of heat transfer characteristics of subcooled water flowing in vertical circular channels, which were off-center in rectangular blocks, were carried out under high heat fluxes up to the ITER requirements. The heating flux distributions of the channels were non-uniform in the circumferential direction, which were obtained by electrically heating the blocks directly. Two types of channels were used: smooth channel and twisted tapes channel. The surface temperature of the rectangular blocks was measured by infrared camera and thermocouples. Effect of the system pressure, mass flow rate, inlet subcooling, and equivalent heat fluxes on heat transfer were all investigated. The main attention was paid to the subcooled water heat transfer under non-uniform heating flux, and the effect of twisted tapes. Results show that subcooled boiling is more likely to become the dominant factor under the conditions of lower mass flow rates, higher heat fluxes and lower system pressures. Twisted tapes can enhance the heat transfer, which is more evident in high heat fluxes. The temperature fields in the block were calculated with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method to obtain, which were consistent with the experimental results.