EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF TWO-PHASE PRESSURE DROP IN THE STRAIGHT ADIABATIC TUBES

The pressure drop is the significant constraint in designing the single or multiphase flow systems. Innovative technologies, such as nuclear power plants and enhanced oil recovery processes, can be designed more efficiently with the knowledge of the multiphase pressure drop phenomenon. The higher pressure drop induces the lower system efficiency. There is a scarcity of literature representing the steam–water flow at atmospheric system pressure in the adiabatic tubes. The experiments are performed to get the two-phase pressure drop in the adiabatic tube for the effective design of heat transfer equipment used for diverse applications. The adiabatic tubes of 8, 13.7, and 18 mm diameter, having 15 × 102 mm length, are experimented for 32–495 kg/m2s mass flux and 0–1 vapor quality. The pressure drop in the adiabatic tubes increases nonlinearly with the increase of vapor quality. The pressure drop is influenced significantly by the diameter of the tube. The pressure drop is lesser in the 18 mm tube compared to the 8 and 13.7 mm tubes for constant vapor quality and mass flow rate. The increase of the mass flux increases the pressure drop monotonically. The pressure drop is higher at higher mass flux and higher vapor quality in the lesser diameter tube. The experimental pressure drop is compared to various correlations. A correlation is suggested to measure the two-phase pressure drop during steam–water flow at atmospheric system pressure in the adiabatic tubes.