Two-phase Frictional Multiplier Correlation for the Prediction of Condensation Pressure Drop Inside Smooth Horizontal Tube

In the present work, a two-phase frictional multiplier (Φv) correlation for the prediction of condensation pressure drop inside smooth horizontal tube has been proposed incorporating the effect of mass velocity, tube geometry and surface tension. Other existing correlations and the newly proposed correlation of two-phase frictional multiplier have been used to predict the condensation pressure drop of R1234ze(E), R32, R410A, dimethyl ether (DME) and R1234ze(E)/R32mixtures (30/70 and 45/55 weight %) inside a horizontal smooth tube. The predicted results have been compared with the available experimental data which is done inside a water heated double tube heat exchanger. The test section is a horizontally installed smooth tube with effective length of 3.6 m and inner diameter of 4.35 mm. The experiment has been carried out under the conditions of mass flux varying from 147 to 403 kgm−2s−1 and the saturation temperatures ranging between 30 and 45 °C, over the vapor quality range 0.0065 to 0.9724. From the results of comparison, proposed correlation shows better performance for all refrigerants. Proposed Φv correlation can predict all the experimental data within ±11%.