Turbulence modeling for the two-phase flow and heat transfer in condensers

In this paper, various turbulence models are compared to determine which models are most accurate in simulating two-phase fluid flow and heat transfer in steam surface condensers. The numerical method is based on the conservation equations of mass and momentum for both gas-phase and liquid-phase, and mass fraction conservation equation for non-condensable gases. Modified standard k-ε and RNG k-ε models are proposed to account for the effects of tube bundles and two-phase interactions on the gas-phase turbulence. A quasi-three-dimensional approach is used to account for the effect of the temperature difference in the coolant flowing in the tubes. Finally, the numerical results are compared with the experimental data to assess the performance of the proposed turbulence models.