Numerical analysis of spontaneously condensing phenomena in nozzle of steam-jet vacuum pump

Abstract

The primary fluid in a steam-jet vacuum pump is not assumed as a perfect gas as general research in the present study. A mathematic model based on the wet steam model for transonic flow is proposed to investigate the flow behaviours of primary fluid in the nozzle of a steam-jet vacuum pump. The simulation based on a wet steam model was carried out to predict the flow characteristics of primary fluid along the nozzle axis by a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code (FLUENT6.3). The simulation results showed that there was spontaneous condensation as the supersonic flow passing through the nozzle and the simulation results had a good agreement with the experimental data. It is found from the numerical simulation results that the steam flow characteristics in nozzle are quite different from a wet steam model and a perfect gas assumption: the outlet pressure of the nozzle predicted in the present study is higher than that as the primary fluid assumed as perfect gas, the outlet velocity is about 10% lower than that as the primary fluid assumed as a perfect gas, and the temperature at the outlet of the nozzle is much higher than that as the primary fluid assumed as a perfect gas. The simulation results demonstrate that the thermo-positive process due to steam condensation would hinder the supersonic expanding flow process in nozzle and depress the efficiency of the nozzle which would affect the pumping performance of steam-jet pump.