Mechanistic modelling of dryout and post-dryout heat transfer

In this paper a new mechanistic model for the diabatic annular two-phase flow is presented and applied to prediction of dryout and post-dryout heat transfer in various channels. The model employs a computational fluid dynamics code - OpenFOAM® - to solve the governing equations of two-phase mixture flowing in a heated channel. Additional closure laws have been implemented to calculate the location of the dryout and to predict wall temperature in the post-dryout region. Calculated results have been compared with experimental data obtained in pipes and good agreement between predictions and measurements has been achieved. The presented model is applicable to complex geometries and thus can be used for prediction of post-dryout heat transfer in a wide variety of energy conversion systems.