Influence of Wall Sub-Cooling on Local Heat Transfer for Forced Convection Condensation of Steam/Air in a Horizontal Tube

Abstract

For the purpose of analyzing the influence of wall sub-cooling on condensation heat transfer characteristic in the presence of noncondensable gases inside a horizontal tube, experiments for air-cooling and water-cooling at the secondary side outside the condenser tube have been conducted. By comparing the experimental data of different inlet air mass fraction, mixture gases velocity and coolant volume flow rate, the variation of local heat transfer coefficient with wall sub-cooling was obtained. The results show that for annular and wavy flow, the condensation heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing wall sub-cooling but decreases for stratified flow. For annular and wavy flow, the positive influence of wall sub-cooling on condensation heat transfer coefficient is enhanced by the rise of inlet noncondensable gas mass fraction, mixture gases velocity and pressure.