Modeling the evaporation of a hydrocarbon feedstock in the convection section of a steam cracker

A model has been developed allowing to simulate the flow boiling process of a hydrocarbon feedstock. For the calculation of the different horizontal two-phase flow regimes that evolve during flow boiling, use is made of the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) model that uses a Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation (PLIC) method to reconstruct the interface between both phases in each computational cell. In-house developed codes calculate the mass and energy transfer phenomena occurring during this flow boiling process. As such, an existing CFD code is completed with a newly developed complete evaporation model.The developed model is used to simulate the flow boiling process of a hydrocarbon feedstock in the tubes of a convection section heat exchanger of a steam cracker. The simulation results show a succession of horizontal two-phase flow regimes in agreement with the literature.