Investigation of thermo-hydraulics performance and vapour bubble behaviour over 5×3 smooth hybrid elliptical tube bundle under saturated cross flow boiling condition - An experimental study

Abstract

In the current experimental study, the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of a novel smooth hybrid elliptical tube bundle (TB) is compared with the performance of the corresponding conventional smooth circular TB. The smooth hybrid elliptical tube, made up of AISI-304, is in the form of a conventional elliptical shape from the outside but a circular shape from the inside. The operating parameters encountered in the current investigation are Heat Flux (10–75 kW/m2), Mass Flux (19–100 kg/m2s), and pitch-to-diameter ratio (P/D) (1.25 - 1.95). The outcomes show that the thermal-hydraulics performance in the case of a smooth hybrid elliptical TB is higher than a conventional smooth circular TB. The augmentation in the heat transfer coefficient obtained with a smooth hybrid elliptical TB is limited to 12 % in the entire range. The pressure drop improvement is found to be 48 % to 120 % equated to the conventional smooth circular TB. However, the effective performance of the smooth hybrid elliptical TB measured in terms of H/P ratio (H/P = heat transfer coefficient/total pressure drop) is found to be in the range of 0.3–2.5 compared to the conventional smooth circular TB which is in the range of 0.2–1.1. This is evident from the present experimental study that the employment of the elliptical TB will lead to lower pumping power than a conventional smooth circular TB owing to its lower pressure because of the streamlined surface. The obtained two-phase heat transfer enhancement efficiency based on enhancement factor and pressure drop penalty factor showed a higher gap TB (P/D = 1.95) has higher performance. Moreover, for the first time, an effort has been made to analyze the physics associated with vapor bubble dynamics and interaction along the height of the smooth hybrid elliptical TB.