Prediction of Critical Heat Flux of Mixtures Flowing in Channels

Abstract

Boiling of mixtures in channels is involved in many chemical processes, and refrigerant mixtures are finding a rapidly increasing use in the refrigeration industries. Hence, reliable prediction of CHF (critical heat flux) is needed. There is no published method that has been verified over a wide range of parameters. In this study, available data for CHF in tubes and annuli were compared to general correlations for tubes and annuli, which are well-verified for single-component fluids. This paper presents the results of this comparison. It was found that general correlations for single-component fluids were in satisfactory agreement with data for mixtures. The data included mixtures of refrigerants and chemicals, reduced pressure 0.02 to 0.8597, mass flux 200 to 3798 kgm−2s−1, temperature glide 2.1 to 21.9 K, and critical quality −0.46 to 0.99. The data for annuli were predicted with a MAD (mean absolute deviation) of 13.6%, and the data for tubes had a MAD of 13.9% when compared to the Shah correlations for single-component fluids. Based on the results of the present data analysis and results of research on pool boiling, a range is identified in which pure fluid correlations can be used for mixtures. This will be useful in the design of heat exchangers involving the boiling of mixtures in channels.