Forced convective two phase flow analysis in a circular tube equipped with twisted tapes

In forced convection boiling systems, it is important to know the dynamic behavior for understanding and predicting the local and global stability of the system. Besides this, the instability phenomenon in the industrial processes in which two phase flow takes part becomes more of an issue. So, the mechanisms of instabilities and the ways of decreasing the stabilities are of interest of the researchers for a long time. In this study, the effects of pitch ratio, inlet temperature and the mass flow rate on two phase flow instabilities in a horizontal circular tube are investigated. The experiments are conducted under constant system pressure, and a constant heat input of 24 kW is applied to the outer surface of the circular test pipe having constant exit restriction. The results of two different pitch ratios are also compared with the smooth tube. For all investigated cases, the results are evaluated in terms of pressure drop type and density wave type oscillations. The time dependent measurements of top wall temperature, bottom wall temperature, inlet pressure and mass flow rate variations are also presented. The boundaries of the oscillations are found for both twisted tape and smooth channel. It is found that the unstable region of the flow extends while the distance between boundaries increases. It is observed that the system is more stable in the case of the lowest pitch ratio, and the increase of the pitch ratio causes system to be less stable. By the decrease of the inlet temperature, the single phase liquid region extends in the test tube and thus the system becomes more stable.