Laminar film condensation of a liquid metal in a vertical channel with variations in wall temperature

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 UTC 1977

OSTI ID:5140265

Sigmon, T W

The problem of laminar film condensation of a turbulent liquid metal vapor on a vertical channel wall is analyzed by solving the boundary layer form of the conservation equations. Included in the problem were results due to an applied electromagnetic field and a variable channel wall temperature. The value of the wall temperature is extracted at each step down the channel from a coupling of the condensation process with the cooling fluid on the cooling side of the channel wall. The interface and centerline velocities on the condensing side along with an effective viscosity for the vapor phase all vary in the streamwise direction and are found at each step along the channel from various continuity conditions for the condensing flow. In addition, the vapor phase is assumed to enter the condenser at its saturation temperature. It is also shown that the saturation temperature of the vapor remains constant and, therefore, the energy equation for the vapor phase need not be solved. The problem is solved using liquid sodium as the condensing fluid while results are given for both water and liquid sodium as cooling fluids. The temperature drop across the condensate film is shown to be small and, thus, liquid properties are assumed constant throughout the analysis.

• OSTI ID: 5140265
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
ALKALI METALS
BOUNDARY LAYERS
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ELEMENTS
EQUATIONS
FILM CONDENSATION
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
LAYERS
LIQUID METALS
LIQUIDS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METALS
SODIUM
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TURBULENT FLOW
TWO-PHASE FLOW
VAPOR CONDENSATION