Gas Phase Distribution Effects on Heat Transfer in Upward Vertical Bubbly Channel Flows

Abstract

Two-phase (non-boiling) flows have been shown to increase heat transfer in channel flows as compared with single-phase flows. The present work explores the effects of gas phase distribution such as volume fraction and bubble size on the heat transfer in upward vertical channel flows. A two-dimensional (2D) channel flow of 10 cm wide by 100 cm high is studied numerically. Numerical simulations are performed using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code ANSYS FLUENT. The bubble size is characterized by the Eötvös number. The volume fraction and the Eötvö number are varied parametrically to investigate their effects on Nusselt number of the two-phase flows. All simulations are compared with a single-phase flow condition.