Influence of stiffness on CHF for horizontal tubes under LPLF conditions

Studies reported in the past on critical heat flux (CHF) are mostly limited to vertical flow, large channel diameter, high pressure and high mass flux. Since horizontal flow is commonly encountered in boiler tubes, refrigerating equipments and nuclear reactor fuel channels (PHWR), there is a need to understand horizontal flow CHF, generate sufficient experimental database and to develop reliable predictive method. Few studies are reported on the effect of upstream flow restrictions on flow instabilities and CHF. The present work investigates the effect of upstream flow restriction on CHF in horizontal flow at near atmospheric pressure conditions. In the present study, stiffness is defined as the ratio of upstream flow restriction pressure drop to the test section pressure drop. The classification of a flow boiling system as soft or stiff on the basis of quantification of the stiffness is attempted. Experimental data shows an increase in the CHF with the increase in the stiffness for a given initial mass flux. A correlation for the prediction of CHF under various stiffness conditions is developed. A correlation is suggested to predict the mass flux at CHF as a function of stiffness and initial mass flux. Modeling and transient analysis of the stiffness effect on CHF is carried out using the thermal hydraulic system code RELAP5. The predicted phenomena are in agreement with the experimental observations.