Improvements in Predicting Void Fraction in Subcooled Boiling

Abstract

A simple two-phase thermal-hydraulic tool with the drift-flux model has been used to develop a subcooled boiling model. The tool is composed of four governing equations: mixture mass, vapor mass, mixture momentum, and mixture enthalpy. Using the developed tool, various subcooled boiling models were investigated through the published experimental data. In the process of evaluation, two models were developed associated with the subcooled boiling. First, the Saha and Zuber correlation predicting the point of the net vapor generation was modified to consider the thermal and dynamic effects at the high-velocity region. Second, the pumping factor model was developed using the pi-theorem based on parameters related to the bubble generation mechanism, and it produced an additional parameter: the boiling number. The proposed models and several other models were evaluated against a series of subcooled flow boiling experiments at the pressure range of 1 to 146.8 bars. From the root-mean-square analysis for the predicted void fraction in the subcooled boiling region, the results of the proposed model presented the best predictions for the whole-pressure ranges. Also, the implementation of the developed models into RELAP5/MOD3.3 brought about improved results compared to those of the default model of the code.