Critical Heat Fluxes and Flow Patterns in High-Pressure Boiling Water Flows

Abstract

High-speed motion pictures (4300 pictures/sec) of boiling water flow patterns in conditions of forced flow at 1000 psia pressure in a vertical heated rectangular channel were taken over the range of mass velocities from 50 to 400 lb/sec-ft2, fluid states from bulk subcooled liquid flow to bulk boiling flow at 0.66 steam quality, and heat fluxes up to and including the critical heat flux level. Eighty critical heat flux determinations were made in the course of the experiment at 1000 psia in conditions of bulk boiling. The motion pictures provide photographic evidence of the general arrangement of the flow in conditions of bulk boiling at high pressure with heat fluxes near and including the critical heat flux level.