skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Condensation in a two-phase pool

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10134073
 [1];  [2]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
  2. EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

We consider the case of vapor condensation in a liquid pool, when the heat transfer is controlled by heat losses through the walls. The analysis is based on drift flux theory for phase separation in the pool, and determines the two-phase mixture height for the pool. To our knowledge this is the first analytical treatment of this classic problem that gives an explicit result, previous work having established the result for the evaporative case. From conservation of mass and energy in a one-dimensional steady flow, together with a void relation between the liquid and vapor fluxes, we determine the increase in the mixture level from the base level of the pool. It can be seen that the thermal and hydrodynamic influences are separable. Thus, the thermal influence of the wall heat transfer appears through its effect on the condensing length L*, so that at high condensation rates the pool is all liquid, and at low rates overflows (the level swell or foaming effect). Similarly, the phase separation effect hydrodynamically determines the height via the relative velocity of the mixture to the entering flux. We examine some practical applications of this result to level swell in condensing flows, and also examine some limits in ideal cases.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH00016; AC07-76ID01570
OSTI ID:
10134073
Report Number(s):
BNL-47120; CONF-920928-1; ON: DE92010048
Resource Relation:
Conference: 1. European thermal sciences conference and 3rd UK national heat transfer conference,Birmingham (United Kingdom),16-18 Sep 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1991]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Condensation in a two-phase pool
Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · OSTI ID:10134073

Void distribution in a shallow bubbling pool
Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · OSTI ID:10134073

Parameterizations of Cloud Microphysics and Indirect Aerosol Effects
Technical Report · Mon May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · OSTI ID:10134073