THE CALCULATION OF CRITICAL HEAT FLUX IN FORCED CONVECTION BOILING

P. B. Whalley
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, U.K.

P. Hutchinson
Engineering Sciences Division, AERE Harwell, Oxon, England

Geoffrey F. Hewitt
Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Abstract

A method of calculating critical heat flux in forced convective boiling in vertical up-flow in round tubes is presented. The heat flux is assumed to be uniform. Results of the calculation are compared with experimental results for a variety of fluids including water at various pressures, and fluorinated hydrocarbons. Very encouraging agreement with experiment is found. The calculation method assumes that the two-phase mixture of liquid and vapour form an annular type of flow. The burnout point is calculated as that at which the liquid film flow rate becomes equal to zero.