Modelling of Subcooled Boiling in Corrugated Pipes

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical investigation of subcooled flow boiling heat transfer in sinusoidal-corrugated vertical pipes using RPI wall boiling with Eulerian–Eulerian two-phase flow model. Numerical studies are performed for different values of corrugation length and wall heat flux at a constant mass flux, operating pressure and temperature which are representative of steam generation in nuclear reactors. The numerical results are also compared with the smooth/flat pipe in terms of wall temperature, heat transfer, pressure drop and volume fraction (vf) of vapour. The results showed that onset of nucleate boiling is delayed in the case of corrugated pipes as compared to the flat pipe. It is also observed that the vf of vapour at the outlet of flat pipe is higher as compared to corrugated pipes. Overall heat transfer is increased in corrugated pipes due to enhanced mixing which eventually improved convective heat transfer. However, improvement in the heat transfer is at the cost of pressure drop. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.