An Experimental Investigation of Forced Convection to Supercritical Pressure Water in Heated Small Bore Tubes

Abstract

SYNOPSIS The paper describes the results of experiments on forced convection heat transfer to water at 245 bar flowing through small-bore tubes heated at approximately uniform flux. Basic similarity criteria for forced convection to variable property fluids are established and experimentally demonstrated. An estimate of the demarcation between forced and mixed convection is arrived at by observing departures from similarity, and comparing the results with those of previous workers. Finally, some unusual time dependent wall temperature distributions are presented which suggest that axial conduction in the test section wall may be particularly important in highly variable property situations.