New flow boiling heat transfer model and flow pattern map for carbon dioxide evaporating inside horizontal tubes

A new flow boiling heat transfer model and a new flow pattern map based on the flow boiling heat transfer mechanisms for horizontal tubes have been developed specifically for CO2. Firstly, a nucleate boiling heat transfer correlation incorporating the effects of reduced pressure and heat flux at low vapor qualities has been proposed for CO2. Secondly, a nucleate boiling heat transfer suppression factor correlation incorporating liquid film thickness and tube diameters has been proposed based on the flow boiling heat transfer mechanisms so as to capture the trends in the flow boiling heat transfer data. In addition, a dryout inception correlation has been developed. Accordingly, the heat transfer correlation in the dryout region has been modified. In the new flow pattern map, an intermittent flow to annular flow transition criterion and an annular flow to dryout region transition criterion have been proposed based on the changes in the flow boiling heat transfer trends. The flow boiling heat transfer model predicts 75.5% of all the CO2 database within ±30%. The flow boiling heat transfer model and the flow pattern map are applicable to a wide range of conditions: tube diameters (equivalent diameters for non-circular channels) from 0.8 to 10 mm, mass velocities from 170 to 570 kg/m2 s, heat fluxes from 5 to 32 kW/m2 and saturation temperatures from −28 to 25 °C (reduced pressures from 0.21 to 0.87).