Nucleation Phenomena in Flowing High-Pressure Steam: Experimental Results

Abstract

The paper describes the results of an experimental investigation of limiting supersaturation in high-pressure steam. It follows an earlier investigation and to avoid the uncertainties associated with leakage past sliding profiles, the test section has been redesigned and the measurements taken with fixed nozzles. Three convergent-divergent nozzles with nominal rates of expansion of 3000, 5000 and 10000 per second have been used and the inlet stagnation pressures cover the range 25–35 bar. The data consist mainly of axial pressure distributions but some droplet measurements have also been recorded.