Flow visualization study of post-critical heat flux in inverted flow (original) (raw)

A visual study of film boiling was carded out to determine the flow regime transition in the post-CHF region for a transient bottom reflooding of a hot transparent test section. The effect of test liquid subcooling and inlet velocity on flow transition as well as on the quench front propagation was investigated. The respective ranges for liquid velocity and subcooling were 1.8-26.8 era/s, and 20-45°C, respectively. The test liquid was Freon 113 which was introduced into the bottom of the quartz test section whose walls were maintained well above the film boiling temperature of the test liquid, via a transparent heat transfer fluid. The flow regimes observed down stream of the upward moving quench front were the rough wavy, the agitated, and the dispersed droplet/ligaments in agreement with a steady state, two-phase core injection study carried on recently by one of the authors. A correlation for the flow regime transition between the inverted annular and the dispersed droplet/ligament flow patterns was developed. The correlation showed a marked dependence on the void fraction at the CHF location and hence on the flow regime encountered in the pre-CHF region.