Experimental analysis of local void fractions measurements for boiling hydrocarbons in complex geometry

The present paper is part of a research program on two-phase flows and heat transfer studies in tube bundles. An experimental study was carried out to analyse the void fraction for vertical two-phase flows. Boiling across a horizontal tube bundle for three hydrocarbons (n-pentane, propane and iso-butane) under saturated conditions is investigated. The experiments were performed on a tube bundle with 45 plain copper tubes of 19.05 mm outside diameter in a staggered configuration with a pitch to diameter ratio of 1.33. An optical probe has been developed to determine the local void fraction at the minimum cross section between the tubes.The void fraction for the three hydrocarbons was found to be significantly less than the homogeneous prediction, and correlated well with the Zuber and Findlay model. A statistical analysis using Probability Density Functions (PDF) was performed to characterise the flow regimes. Two different flow regimes have been identified in the bundle, namely a “bubbly” and an “annular-dispersed” flow. A transition zone was evidenced by analysing the bubble size distribution. A comparison with the only preexisting map, established for adiabatic air–water flow, shows that the transitions between the flow regimes do not correspond to our results in boiling case.