Two-phase Frictional Pressure Drop Research Articles

Thermal-hydraulic performance of R1234yf in brazed plate heat exchanger at low saturation temperature and mass flux conditions: Experimental investigation

This study investigated the heat transfer coefficient (hr) and two-phase frictional pressure drop during the evaporation of R1234yf within an offset strip fin (OSF)-structured brazed plate heat exchanger (BPHE). The work is conducted at a saturation temperature (Ts) of −3 to 3 °C, with mass flux (G) ranging from 25 to 45 kg m−2 s−1 and heat flux (q) between 15 and 23 kW m−2 across a vapor quality (x) range of 0.1–0.8. Understanding these behaviors is critical for optimizing BPHEs in low-temperature applications, such as heat pumps, where energy efficiency is essential. The novelty of this work lies in its exploration of operating conditions that are less studied in the literature, particularly the impact of low Ts, low G, and high q on hr and two-phase frictional pressure drop in an OSF-BPHE with R1234yf. Unlike prior studies focusing on convection-dominated boiling, our findings reveal a coexistence of nucleate and convective boiling mechanisms, especially at different vapor qualities. The hr is significantly influenced by q at x < 0.6, G at x > 0.6, and Ts across all x. In contrast, evidence of dryout at high x highlights the importance of these parameters in managing heat transfer efficiency. The results indicate a strong correlation between the two-phase frictional pressure drop and G, with a marked increase in it at higher G. Besides, this study reveals flow characteristics commonly linked with both macrochannel and minichannel flows, enhancing novelty by bridging the gap between these two regimes. These findings challenge existing literature correlations that predominantly emphasize convection-dominated behavior and contribute to a better understanding of the dual boiling mechanisms in BPHEs.

Experimental study and correlation development for the two-phase frictional pressure drop of flow boiling in copper foam fin microchannels

Experimental study and correlation development for the two-phase frictional pressure drop of flow boiling in copper foam fin microchannels

ANN-based model integrated in thermal-hydraulics codes: A case study of two-phase wall friction model

Accurate prediction of two-phase parameters is essential for the development, operation and safety of nuclear power plants. In this paper, the ANN-based model has been developed, implemented with PDE (Partial Differential Equation) solver in case study of two-phase frictional pressure drop prediction.

Investigation on gas-liquid two-phase frictional pressure drop in pipeline riser

The pressure drop characteristics of gas-liquid two-phase flow in pipeline-risers are important to the design optimization of marine risers lifting oil and gas. In this study, experimental investigation on single-phase and air-water two-phase flow pressure drop characteristics in vertical and S-shaped risers have been carried out in a long-distance pipeline with the gas superficial velocities ranging from 0.03 to 6.2 m/s and the liquid superficial velocities from 0.02 to 1.3 m/s. The test loop with 50 mm i. d. Consists of a horizontal pipeline with 114 m in length, followed by a 16 m downward inclined section, and ended at a riser. The downward section is adjustable in inclination with various angle of −2°, −3°, −4° and −5° with respect to horizontal. A vertical riser and an S-shaped flexible riser were used in the experiment. The effects of flow and geometry parameters on two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier are studied. For flow parameters, the two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier increases with increasing the inlet gas and liquid superficial velocity. For geometric parameters, the two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier in S-shaped riser is larger compared to that in straight vertical riser. The existing correlations reported in the literature are evaluated. A single-phase friction factor correlation and a two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier correlation for pipeline-riser system are developed. Comparison of the predicted value and the measured results shows good agreements.

Numerical analysis of sodium-argon two-phase flow in narrow channels under severe accident conditions in pool type SFR

A two-phase flow model for sodium-argon mixture flow through the reactor vessel head penetrations under the energetic core disruptive accident in a sodium fast reactor (SFR) is presented. The model evaluates the total sodium mass in sodium-argon mixture released to the reactor containment building (RCB) through penetrations. The driving pressure at the penetration entrance is given as input. The two-phase frictional and local pressure drops, inertial and piezo-metric heads are accounted for in the model. Depending on the argon volume fraction, either a homogenous or separated flow approach is adopted to evaluate the mixture flow. Reactor-scale analysis show that the presence of argon in vessel head penetrations can significantly mitigate the total sodium release mass during the slug impact phase. Also, the two-phase frictional pressure drop plays a mitigating role and needs to be included in the model formulation to avoid overestimation of the sodium release mass. Fluid-structure interaction effects such as vessel head bending and hold-down bolt elongation have negligible influence on sodium release mass as long as the deformations are within the elastic limit. The model is conceived to be part of an integrated code system to evaluate the sodium fire and the maximum RCB pressure under severe accident conditions in a pool-type SFR.

Comprehensive study of synergistic effects of phase separation structures and electric fields for enhancing the heat transfer performance of minichannel heat sinks

In this paper, the effects of the phase separation structure on the enhanced boiling heat transfer mechanism and bubble dynamics were investigated. Two types of phase-separation structures and one type of conventional minichannel were manufactured by ultrafast laser technology. Flow boiling experiments of a glycerol-water solution were conducted under various heat flux and electric field conditions. Entropy generation analysis was employed to comprehensively analyze and assess energy losses and irreversibility within the system. Response surface analysis method was introduced to optimize operational and design parameters for achieving optimal experimental design. Moreover, the coupling effect of the phase-separation structure and electric field was observed to have a significant impact on the enhancement of heat transfer. The visualization results indicate that, compared to conventional parallel minichannels, the countercurrent minichannel with phase-separation structure leads to a gradual decrease in the aspect ratio of confined bubbles downstream (in contrast to the increasing aspect ratio of confined bubbles downstream in general minichannels), and smaller bubbles at the upstream of adjacent minichannels gradually disappear and diminish due to the condensation effect. The experimental results demonstrate that the porous phase-separation structure plays a significant role in enhancing heat transfer performance and can reduce the increase of two-phase friction pressure drop per unit length with the increase of heat flux. Under electric field-free conditions, the porous phase separation structure exhibits a maximum increase in heat transfer efficiency of 26.2% compared to conventional structures. Furthermore, the maximum reduction in two-phase frictional pressure drop per unit length reaches 19.4%. In the presence of the synergistic effect between an electric field and the phase separation structure, the maximum heat transfer efficiency is enhanced by 65.5%. The above analysis provides an effective means for investigating the comprehensive performance of phase separation structures and the bubble dynamics of confined bubbles in heat sinks.

Development of Two-Phase Frictional Pressure Gradient Correlation for Saturated Cryogenic Flow Boiling in Uniformly Heated Tubes

Experiments to determine two-phase frictional pressure drop for saturated cryogenic flow boiling in uniformly heated round tubes have been performed throughout the globe during the past sixty years for a variety of cryogens. However, the experimental data are scarce and either rarely published or published only for a few cryogens, with majority of the data remaining in the archives of authors, or in obscure technical reports of an organization or other inaccessible sources. In the present study, the Purdue University-Boiling and Two-Phase Flow Laboratory (PU-BTPFL) Cryogenic Total Pressure Drop Database is consolidated both for saturated adiabatic liquid-vapor and saturated flow boiling for cryogens from world literature dating back to 1964. With 474 total pressure drop data points for LHe, LH2, LNe, and LN2, it represents the largest total pressure drop database for cryogenic saturated two-phase flow assembled to date. Using this database, predictive accuracy of seminal frictional pressure gradient correlations employing both the Homogenous Equilibrium Model (HEM) and the Separated Flow Model (SFM) are assessed. The distinct fluid physics unique to cryogens is studied further using the database and new dimensionless criteria are developed to demarcate a dispersed flow dominant data subset from the separated flow dominant data subset, which are better represented using HEM and SFM, respectively. These criteria are subsequently used to develop a hybrid HEM-SEM frictional pressure gradient correlation for saturated cryogenic flow for the two distinct data subsets. The new hybrid correlation performs the best of all seminal correlations and provides excellent predictive agreement with the database, evidenced by a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 14.7 %.

FRICTIONAL PRESSURE DROP DURING CONDENSING FLOW INSIDE MINI/MICRO-CHANNELS: PREDICTIVE TOOLS ASSESSMENT AND DATA TREATMENT

A total of 1210 new condensation friction pressure gradient points (database) is collected from 12 open articles on mini/micro-channels literature. The database covered a wide range of thermophysical properties associated with low-GWP refrigerants, physical dimension, mass velocity and vapor quality. A comparison of the experimental database against eleven two-phase flow frictional pressure drop prediction tools is carried out. Based on that, the mini/micro-channel developed by Xu and Fang exhibited the best ability to capture the tendency of the database with a mean absolute relative deviation of (36.59%) for all data. Keywords: Two-phase flow frictional pressure gradient; Mini/micro-channels; Condensing flow; New refrigerant fluid; Heat transfer; Collect database.

Condensation of R290 + R13I1 zeotropic mixture in a plate heat exchanger with offset-strip fin geometry

Energy-efficient refrigerants with a low global-warming potential (GWP) is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in the automobile sector. In this sense, despite its higher flammability, R290 can meet environmental regulations with outstanding thermal properties. Studies have been conducted to reduce the flammability of R290 by combining it with flame retarding agents, and it has been discovered that the use of R13I1 has good control over R290's flammability and offering good thermal performance. However, research into the two-phase behavior of R290 + R13I1 combinations is extremely important for building compact heat-pumps. Therefore, this study experimentally investigated the condensation behavior of a new low-GWP R290 + R13I1 refrigerant mixture in a plate heat exchanger with an offset-strip fin flow passage. The effects of the heat flux (HF), mean vapor quality (xm), saturation temperature (Ts), and mass flux (MF) on the condensation heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and two-phase frictional pressure drop were explored. The results show that the peak condensation HTC increased by 66.2% and 19.7% with an increase in HF and MF, respectively, although it deteriorated by 26.7% in the case of Ts. Moreover, the dominance of the mass transfer resistance (MTR) and surface tension was observed at lower xm values, whereas the shear force dominated at higher xm values. The MTR was estimated with Silver–Bell–Ghaly (SBG) approximation, and the values were in the range of 0.0000342 K.m−2.W−1 and 0.000067 K.m−2.W−1. Moreover, the Nusselt number (Nu) predicted using the SBG approximation correlations was lower than the experimental value. Hence, two types of new Nu correlation were made with and without SBG approximation, and they showed reasonably good Nu prediction with 9.6% and 10.8% mean absolute deviation.

An Experimental Investigation of Two-Phase Frictional Pressure Drop in Straight-Tube Steam Generator Used in SFR

Due to the presence of sodium, it is a challenging task to achieve the reliable and safe operation of steam generators in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). Water flow oscillations in a two-phase flow system worsen the tube integrity. An accurate prediction of two-phase pressure drop is essential in designing steam generators to operate in a stable regime. Toward this, experiments have been carried out on an industrial-size 19-tube model sodium-heated steam generator of 5.5-MW capacity to understand two-phase pressure drop characteristics at various operating conditions. The measured data are used to estimate the two-phase frictional pressure drop. The concept of a two-phase friction multiplier has been used in the present study. A significant variation in the two-phase frictional multiplier is seen with steam quality, whereas the variation of the two-phase friction multiplier is insignificant at saturated steam condition. Based on the experiments, complemented by computational model, a correlation has been developed for the two-phase frictional multiplier as a function of steam quality for sodium-heated once-through straight-tube steam generators.

Flow Pattern Study and Pressure Drop Prediction of Two-Phase Boiling Process in Different Surface Wettability Microchannel.

An experimental study of two-phase flow pressure drop using R-134a is conducted on three types of different surface wettability microchannels with superhydrophilic (contact angle of 0°), hydrophilic (contact angle of 43°) and common (contact angle of 70°, unmodified) surfaces, all with a hydraulic diameter of 0.805 mm. Experiments were conducted using a mass flux of 713-1629 kg/m2s and a heat flux of 7.0-35.1 kW/m2. Firstly, the bubble behavior during the two-phase boiling process in the superhydrophilic and common surface microchannel is studied. Through a large number of flow pattern diagrams under different working conditions, it is found that the bubble behavior shows different degrees of order in microchannels with different surface wettability. The experimental results show that the hydrophilic surface modification of microchannel is an effective method to enhance heat transfer and reduce friction pressure drop. Through the data analysis of friction pressure drop and C parameter, it is found that the three most important parameters affecting the two-phase friction pressure drop are mass flux, vapor quality, and surface wettability. Based on flow patterns and pressure drop characteristics obtained from the experiments, a new parameter, named flow order degree, is proposed to account for the overall effects of mass flux, vapor quality, and surface wettability on two-phase frictional pressure drop in microchannels, and a newly developed correlation based on the separated flow model is presented. In the superhydrophilic microchannel, the mean absolute error of the new correlation is 19.8%, which is considerably less than the error of the previous models.

Condensation of R1234yf in a plate heat exchanger with an offset strip fin flow structure for electric vehicle heat pumps

The energy-efficient plate heat exchanger (PHE) and refrigerant R1234yf, which has a low global warming potential (GWP), can be used to realize an energy efficient heat pump (HP) system for electric vehicles (EV), extending their driving range. Therefore, the characteristics of R1234yf in an offset-fin strip (OSF) flow-structured PHE are critical for heat-exchanger design. This study investigates the condensation heat transfer coefficient (C-HTC) and two-phase frictional pressure drop (2P-FPD) of R1234yf during condensation in an OSF flow-structured PHE under various operating conditions. First, a modified Wilson plot method was used to determine the multiplier (C) and Reynolds number exponential (n) for the coolant side as −0.426 and 0.494, respectively. When the heat flux (q), average vapor quality (xa), and mass flux (G) increased, the C-HTC increased, whereas it decreased with saturation temperature (Tsat). Despite the force-convective condensation flow regime, the C-HTC increment was minimal with G at lower xa owing to the lesser significance of the shear effect. Additionally, the 2P-FPD was unaffected by q but increased considerably with an increase in xa and G and a decrease in Tsat. Based on the current experimental database, empirical correlations for forecasting friction factor and Nusselt number were developed with a 91% predictability.

Effects of Pipe Inclination on Global Two-Phase Flow Parameters

Inclined two-phase flow geometries can be found in advanced nuclear reactor systems, such as the helical coil steam generators being considered for use in current integral steam generator designs. While this geometry includes inclination and centrifugal effects coupled together on two-phase flow, there have been limited studies to separate these effects to develop robust models. The majority of two-phase flow research is conducted on vertical channels, with recent work being conducted in a horizontal orientation and limited work in inclined pipes. In the current work, experiments are conducted in an adiabatic two-phase flow test facility to investigate the inclination effect on an air-water flow in straight pipes near atmospheric pressure. The pipe is made of clear acrylic with an inner diameter of 25.4 mm. The inclination of the flow loop can be adjusted in increments of 0.1 deg. Measurement capabilities are included to obtain local two-phase flow parameters such as void fraction, interfacial area concentration, bubble velocity, and Sauter-mean diameter using a local multisensor conductivity probe, local two-phase flow static pressure and pressure drop using a pressure transducer, and flow visualization using a high-speed video camera system. The experimental studies performed in the current work demonstrate how changes in inclination angle can affect the gas distribution flow regime transition and two-phase frictional pressure drop. Based on these experimental results, existing correlations for frictional pressure drop are evaluated, and the modified Lockhart-Martinelli correlation is found to predict the two-phase frictional pressure drop for inclined two-phase flows. This method agrees with experimental data within 7% on average.

Experimental study on boiling two-phase of liquid sodium along a 7-rod bundle – Part Ⅰ: Pressure drop characteristics

The two-phase pressure drop characteristics of liquid sodium are very significant for the safety and serious incident program development analysis of sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). In this paper, the boiling two-phase pressure drop experiments of liquid sodium were conducted in a 7-rod bundle with the mass flux range of 80 ∼ 390 kg/(m2·s), heat flux up to 120 kW/m2 and the absolute pressure range of 7.5 ∼ 100 kPa. The experimental results show that the frictional multiplier of boiling two-phase liquid sodium in the rod bundle channel decreases with the increase ofXLM. Some existing two-phase pressure drop correlations in the literatures were assessed and compared with the experimental data obtained in the present study. Results showed that these correlations could not predict the current experiments well because of the different geometries and measurements of high temperature environment. The new correlation for the two-phase friction multiplier of liquid sodium was developed in the 7 rod bundle. The predicted value of the new correlation was within 30 % of the experimental data in the rod bundle, which sufficiently demonstrates that the new correlation developed in this paper can well predict the boiling two-phase frictional pressure drop of liquid sodium in the rod bundle.

A universal correlation for predicting two-phase frictional pressure drop in horizontal tubes based on machine learning

Accurate prediction of the two-phase frictional pressure drop (FPD) facilitates designing compact phase-change heat exchangers. This study implements ML methods and develops a new universal correlation for predicting FPDs in adiabatic and diabatic flow. A consolidated database with 8663 experimental samples from 64 published literature covering 25 fluids and broad operating conditions is amassed to serve this purpose. The designed ML models, based on artificial neural network (ANN) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) theory, can predict the unknown data with the best mean absolute relative deviate (MARD) of 8.59% and the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.988 or higher. With the aid of parametric importance analysis conducted by the trained ML models, the obtained key parameters, including vapor quality, dimensionless vapor velocity, Froude number, Bond number, and convection number, are adopted to formulate a new correlation. The new correlations can provide more reliable predictive performance than existing correlations for the consolidated database with a MARD of 24.84%. An excluded database is collected to verify the generality of the correlation, and a lower MARD of 27.47% than existing models is obtained. It demonstrates that ML methods can help develop the universal correlation with improved accuracy and universality.

Heat transfer and pressure drop of CO2/R32 mixture in mini-channel

In this study, we investigated the condensation heat transfer characteristics of the CO2/R32 mixture in a mini-channel with a diameter of 2 mm. The experimental conditions were as follows: mass flow rate of 50–400 kg·m−2·s−1, vapor quality of 0–1, and a condensation temperature of 35–45 °C. The experimental data were then compared with the heat transfer correlations. The higher the CO2 content, the smaller the annular flow area. The convective heat transfer coefficient decreases rapidly and then increases slowly with an increase in CO2. The minimum value was obtained when the CO2 content was approximately 55%. In addition, the convective heat transfer coefficient decreased with an increase in the condensation temperature. Higher vapor quality and mass flow rate conditions correspond to higher convective heat transfer coefficients. The prediction correlations applicable to the in-tube condensation heat transfer have low prediction results for CO2/R32, and the model of Shah is recommended as the prediction model. The experimental results of the condensation pressure drop were analyzed, and the results showed that the pressure drop increased linearly with the mass flow rate but decreased with an increase in the condensation temperature. The lower the CO2 content, the more clear the effect of the condensation temperature. The correlation of Kim and Mudawar is recommended for the CO2/R32 two-phase condensation friction pressure drop. This study provides theoretical support for the analysis of the condensation heat transfer mechanism of a CO2/R32 mini-channel.

Pressure Drop in Horizontal Two-Phase Flow

In an artificial environment, the most important key in the process equipment design is determining gas-liquid two-phase flow frictional pressure drop of pipes. To achieve this, an experimental investigation was carried out in this study to analyze the pressure drops of air-water two-phase flow in a 30mm internal diameter horizontal pipe with a length of 6m at different flow conditions. The study was carried out at 20Co using tap water and air. To cover the slug flow pattern, the volumetric flow rate of water varied from 30 to 80 LPM, and the volumetric flow rate of air from 40 to 200 LPM. Pressure transmitters were used to measure pressure at four different points along the test section, each 2m apart. The results of the experiments were compared to 8 models using 3 distinct methods: Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Relative Performance Factor (RPF), and the percentage of data included in the range of the 30% error band. All methods produced similar results, with the Sun-Mishima model being the most accurate.

Boiling of R290+CF3i mixture inside an offset strip fin plate heat exchanger

In this study, evaporation characteristics of mildly flammable R290 + CF3i mixture (35 % + 65 % by weight) were conducted experimentally in an offset strip fins (OSSF) embedded plate heat exchanger (PHEX). Various operating conditions, namely, saturation temperature (Tsat), heat flux (q), inlet vapor quality (xin), and mass flux (G), were considered in the range of 5–15 °C, 4–10 kW m−2, 0.1–0.8, and 40–80 kg m−2 s−1, respectively. From this study, it was found that nucleate boiling was quenched at lower xin regardless of the operating conditions, although the boiling process was led by convection at high xin. Except at higher G, there was a presence of dry-out at a mean x ranging between 0.36 and 0.50, while the two-phase frictional pressure drop increased steadily with mean x. The heat transfer coefficient was largely augmented with increments in G of 50.15 %, followed by increments in q and T of 15.1 % and 12.3 %, respectively. Similarly, the two-phase frictional pressure drop was increased by 12.3 % and 175.4 % with increases in q and G, respectively, although it diminished by 21.9 % with Tsat. Compared to R1234yf, the mean HTC of R290 + CF3i was 6 % lower with 7 % increased TP-FPD. Additionally, Nusselt number and friction factor correlations have been developed with excellent predictability of 7 % and 12 % of mean absolute error, respectively.

Experimental study and general correlation for frictional pressure drop of two-phase flow inside microfin tubes

The adiabatic pressure drop in a microfin tube with an outside diameter of 3.5 mm was experimentally studied herein. The experiments were conducted using R1234yf as a working fluid at saturation temperatures of 20 °C and 30 °C with varying mass velocities from 50 to 300 kg m−2s−1 and vapor qualities ranging from 0.1 to 0.9. The effects of experimental conditions were analyzed and discussed with present and previous data. A new two-phase flow frictional pressure drop correlation has been developed using the data with tube diameter of 2.5–9.52 mm, mass velocity of 50–1000 kg m−2s−1, and many kinds of refrigerants. The proposed correlation predicts the experimental data of other researchers with mean deviation of 17.6%.

Frictional pressure drop correlation for condensation of refrigerants in microchannel heat exchangers

ABSTRACT Condensation of HFC refrigerants in microchannel heat exchangers has gained a lot of interest recently due to high heat transfer coefficient, small size, and reduced refrigerant inventory. Additionally, these microchannel heat exchangers can be conveniently used for extensive ranges of temperature and pressure. Even though numerous research studies have been conducted on the two-phase frictional pressure drop for condensing flows in microchannels, the efforts are continuing to get more experimental data that can be used to develop an accurate frictional pressure drop correlation. The present paper uses 384 experimental data points, which the authors have obtained during the condensation of refrigerants, R134a and R410A, inside multiport rectangular microchannels with hydraulic diameters ranging from 0.66 to 1 mm, at average saturation temperatures of 30°C to 40°C, mass fluxes of 200 to 600 kg/m2s, and average vapor qualities ranging from 0.05 to 0.83. A frictional pressure drop correlation for condensing flows through microchannels has been developed, and the resulting correlation agrees with the experimental data with an MAE of 11.58% and predicts the data almost within the 20% error band. Experimental data were compared with 10 well-known frictional pressure drop correlations from the literature, and it was found that these correlations either over-predict or under-predict the data.