Heat transfer to water at supercritical pressures in a circular and square annular flow geometry

A supercritical water heat transfer facility has been built at the University of Wisconsin to study heat transfer in a circular and square annular flow channel. Operating conditions included mass velocities of 350–1425 kg/m2s, heat fluxes up to 1.0 MW/m2, and bulk inlet temperatures up to 400 °C; all at a pressure of 25 MPa. The accuracy and validity of selected heat transfer correlations and buoyancy criterion were compared with heat transfer measurements. Jackson’s Nusselt correlation was able to best predict the test data, capturing 86% of the data within 25%. Watts Nusselt correlation showed a similar trend but under predicted measurements by 10% relative to Jackson’s. Comparison of experimental results with results of previous investigators has shown general agreement with high mass velocity data. Low mass velocity data have provided some insight into the difficulty in applying these Nusselt correlations to a region of deteriorated heat transfer. Geometrical differences in heat transfer were seen when deterioration was present. Jackson’s buoyancy criterion predicted the onset of deterioration while modifications were applied to Seo’s Froude number based criterion.