CFD for subcooled flow boiling: Parametric variations

Abstract

We investigate the present capabilities of CFD for wall boiling. The computational model used combines the Euler/Euler two-phase flow description with heat flux partitioning. Very similar modeling was previously applied to boiling water under high pressure conditions relevant to nuclear power systems. Similar conditions in terms of the relevant nondimensional numbers have been realized in the DEBORA tests using dichlorodifluoromethane (R12) as the working fluid. This facilitated measurements of radial profiles for gas volume fraction, gas velocity, liquid temperature, and bubble size. Robust predictive capabilities of the modeling require that it is validated for a wide range of parameters. It is known that a careful calibration of correlations used in the wall boiling model is necessary to obtain agreement with the measured data. We here consider tests under a variety of conditions concerning liquid subcooling, flow rate, and heat flux. It is investigated to which extent a set of calibrated model parameters suffices to cover at least a certain parameter range. © 2013 Roland Rzehak and Eckhard Krepper.