Dryout-type critical heat flux in vertical upward annular flow: effects of entrainment rate, initial entrained fraction and diameter

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the effects of liquid entrainment, initial entrained fraction and tube diameter on liquid film dryout in vertical upward annular flow for flow boiling. Entrainment and deposition rates of droplets were included in mass conservation equations to estimate the local liquid film mass flux in annular flow, and the critical vapor quality at dryout conditions. Different entrainment rate correlations were evaluated using flow boiling data of water and organic liquids including n-pentane, iso-octane and R134a. Effect of the initial entrained fraction (IEF) at the churn-to-annular flow transition was also investigated. A transitional Boiling number was proposed to separate the IEF-sensitive region at high Boiling numbers and the IEF-insensitive region at low Boiling numbers. Besides, the diameter effect on dryout vapor quality was studied. The dryout vapor quality increases with decreasing tube diameter. It needs to be pointed out that the dryout characteristics of submillimeter channels might be different because of different mechanisms of dryout, i.e., drying of liquid film underneath long vapor slugs and flow boiling instabilities.