Theoretical modeling of condensation of steam outside different vertical geometries (tube, flat plates) in the presence of noncondensable gases like air and helium

Condensation of steam coming out from the coolant pipe during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) plays a key role in removing heat from the primary containment of the advanced nuclear reactor (ANR). The presence of large mass fractions of air (Wair = 0.25–0.9) and a small mass fraction of helium (WHe = 0.017–0.083) reduces the overall heat transfer coefficient (HTC) substantially. The present work emphasizes on the issue that modeling the diffusion of water-vapor through the gas–liquid interface is the key to give good predictions in HTC. In this, condensation conductivity and effective diffusivity plays a key role. Therefore, modifications have been made in the derivation for calculation of condensation conductivity in the case of steam–air mixture and effective diffusivity (in the case of multicomponent mixture). The model validation has been done with the experimental data of Dehbi et al. [Dehbi, A.A., Golay, M.W., Kazimi, M.S., 1991. National Conference of Heat Transfer AIChE Symposium Series, pp. 19–28] and Anderson et al. [Anderson, M.H., Herranz, L.E., Corradini, M.L., 1998. Experimental analysis of heat transfer within the AP600 containment under postulated accident conditions. Nucl. Eng. Des. 185, 153–172] and other analytical models available in the literature [Herranz, L.E., Anderson, M.H., Corradini, M.H., 1998a. The effect of light gases in noncondensable mixtures on condensation heat transfer. Nucl. Eng. Des. 183, 133–150; Herranz, L.E., Anderson, M.H., Corradini, M.L., 1998b. A diffusion layer model for steam condensation within the AP600 containment. Nucl. Eng. Des. 185, 153–172; Peterson, P.F., Schrock, Y.E., Kageyama, T., 1993. Diffusion layer theory for turbulent vapor condensation with noncondensable gases. J. Heat Transf., 115; Dehbi, A.A., Golay, M.W., Kazimi, M.S., 1991. National Conference of Heat Transfer AIChE Symposium Series, pp. 19–28]. Since the validations of the results were found satisfactory, the datasets [Dehbi, A.A., Golay, M.W., Kazimi, M.S., 1991. National Conference of Heat Transfer AIChE Symposium Series, pp. 19–28; Anderson, M.H., Herranz, L.E., Corradini, M.L., 1998. Experimental analysis of heat transfer within the AP600 containment under postulated accident conditions. Nucl. Eng. Des. 185, 153–172] have been compared with a wide range of subcooling and the operating pressures. An extensive comparison has been reported and the results predicted by the present model were found to be satisfactory.