Robust and General Model to Forecast the Heat Transfer Coefficient for Flow Condensation in Multi Port Mini/Micro-Channels

Abstract

A general correlation for predicting the two-phase heat transfer coefficient (HTC) during condensation inside multi-port mini/micro-channels was presented. The model was obtained by correlating the two-phase multiplier, φtp with affecting parameters using the genetic programming (GP) method. An extensive database containing 3503 experimental data samples was gathered from 21 different sources, including a broad range of operating parameters. The newly obtained correlation fits the broad range of measured data analyzed with an average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of 16.87% and estimates 84.73% of analyzed data points with a relative error of less than 30%. Evaluation of previous correlations was also conducted using the same database. They showed the AARD values ranging from 36.94% to 191.19%. However, the GP model provides more accurate results, AARD lower than 17%, by considering the surface tension effects. Finally, the effect of various operating parameters on the HTC was studied using the proposed correlation.