Analysis of heat flux and velocity effects on nucleation superheat in liquid metals based on dynamic effects

• A correlation considering dynamic effects is proposed.
• Heat flux and velocity effects under several typical conditions are analyzed.
• Dynamic effects can cause apparent heat flux and velocity effects.
• Heat flux and velocity effects can be analyzed together in many cases.

Nucleation superheat in liquid metals is an important parameter in the safety analysis of liquid metal cooled reactor. In this paper, the effects of heat flux and velocity were analyzed based on dynamic effects under several typical conditions. The results indicated that according to different ways of boiling, the nucleation location, the superheat, and the effects of heat flux and velocity could be very different, and in many cases the effects of heat flux and velocity can be analyzed together with a combined parameter. Several typical sets of experimental data available in the literature were used and were found to compare well with our analysis, and generally the experimental data could be well explained.