Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 2 (June 2018)
1

Development of Two-phase Flow Numerical Simulation
Platform for Evaluating Boiling Heat Exchanger Design

YOSHIYUKI KONDO*1

LING CHENG*1

YOSHITERU KOMURO*2

ATSUSHI KODAMA*2

Many MHI products involve two-phase flow phenomenon, which is the simultaneous flow ofgas and liquid phases. Establishment of an accurate and reliable analysis method for two-phaseflow is much difficult than the prediction for single phase flow, since complicated interfacialtransfer of mass, momentum and energy couples gas and liquid phases. A two-phase flow analysis
technology based on the two-fluid model has been developed to carry out the validation and design
evaluation for related products. This paper briefly introduces the new developed two-phase flow
analysis technology and its applications.

|1. Introduction
Many MHI products involve the simultaneous flow of gas and liquid phases. Examples ofsuch products include steam generators that are key components of nuclear power plants,
evaporators of centrifugal chillers, and reboilers of chemical plants. The accurate prediction on thethermal hydraulic behavior of gas-liquid two-phase flow is indispensable for ensuring the reliabilityof these products. For many years, MHI has continuously carried out intensive research studies ondeveloping and applying the advanced two-phase flow analytical technique. This paper briefly
introduces the new developed two-phase flow analysis technology and its applications.

|2. Two-phase flow analysis method
A porous media approach combined with appropriate boiling heat transfer and tube bundle
flow resistance correlations, has been proposed to simulate the heat transfer tube bundles inside aheat exchanger. The mass conservation equation, momentum conservation equation and energy
conservation equation of the gas phase and the liquid phase in porous media are given as follows.
∙

Γ

(1)

∙∙

α

∙

∙

∙

∙

(2)
Γ

∙

"

(3)

In these equations, γ is the volume fraction of the fluid, αk is the volume fraction of the kphase, Γk is the mass source term of the k phase, Mk is the momentum source term of the k phase, qk" is the heat flux at the gas-liquid interface, and a is theis the heat input of the k-phase,igas-liquid interface area concentration.
k = g means the gas phase and k = f means the liquid phase.
Figure 1 shows the interfacial mass and momentum transfer in the gas-liquid two-phaseflow. Unlike single phase flow, momentum transfer occurs due to the velocity difference between
the gas and liquid phases. Gas-liquid interface drag Md is calculated by the constitutive equation*1*2

Chief Staff Manager, Heat Transfer Research Department, Research & Innovation Center
Heat Transfer Research Department, Research & Innovation CenterMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 2 (June 2018)
2(4). The gas-liquid interfacial area concentration ai is calculated from the void fraction αg and thephysical properties by applying the interfacial area concentration correlation.
∙∙

|∙|

∙

(4)

CD is the drag coefficient which can be evaluated from empirical correlations. Dragcoefficient correlations usually depend on the physical properties and the bubble velocity.
Equations (5) show one example of drag coefficient correlations. ur is the relative velocity between
the gas and liquid phase, Db is the bubble diameter, ρf is the liquid density, and μm is the two-phasemixture viscosity.
10.1.

,

(5)

In a heat exchanger, heat transfer occurs due to the temperature difference across the heattransfer tubes. Figure 2 shows our simulation code models convective heat transfer in the tube,
heat conduction of the tube wall, and boiling heat transfer or single-phase convective heat transfer
outside the tubes. The simulation code considers the thermal coupling between fluids across heattransfer tubes and derives the heat flux passing through the tube wall.

Figure 1 Gas-liquid phase action in
two-phase flow analysis

Figure 2 Concept of heat transfer inside andoutside tube

|3. Design calculation examples
3.1 Steam generator
Figure 3 shows the steam generator (SG) of a nuclear power plant. SG is a heat exchanger
that is composed of the U-shaped heat transfer tube bundle with primary coolant flows inside thetubes. SG transfers the heat generated in the nuclear reactor core from primary coolant to thesecondary coolant flowing outside the heat transfer tubes.

Figure 3

Structure of steam generator

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 2 (June 2018)3

Top region of the SG U-shaped heat transfer tube bundle is exposed to cross flows. In such atube bundle, a phenomenon called fluid-elastic vibration occurs in which excessive tube vibrations
are generated when the flow velocity exceeds a certain value.1 The two-phase density distribution
and flow velocity distribution are required evaluation factors for determining the occurrence
threshold of fluid-elastic vibration.
The gas-liquid two-phase flow behavior outside the heat transfer tube bundle is influenced bytube arrangement and two-phase flow regimes. In addition, gas-liquid separation occurs at the large
open space above the U-bend tube bundle. A two-fluid model is required to evaluate above
gas-liquid flow separation phenomenon.
Actual plant simulation models the heat transfer across U-bend tubes. This paper, however,
only reports a sample validation study on a series of adiabatic tests performed with a simulant fluid.
Because primary coolant and secondary coolant are thermally decoupled in an adiabatic system,
only the gas-liquid two-phase flow outside the tube bundle is analyzed and reported here.
A U-bend tube bundle apparatus of 1/2 scale of the actual plant is used to perform the test.
SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride-ethanol) is chosen as the working fluid. SF6 is capable to mimic the actual
plant fluid physical properties (steam and water density ratio, surface tension, etc.) under normal
temperature and lower pressure conditions.2, 3
Prediction results on void fraction and gas-liquid interfacial velocity distribution arepresented in Figure 4. This figure plots the void fraction and flow velocity distribution with respect
to the U-bend angle (shown in Figure 3) at the outermost periphery of the U-bend tube. Analysis
predicts low void fraction (which means a larger amount of liquid) region exists in the vicinity of
the 160° U-bend angle, which is caused by the gas-liquid separation occurs in the large open space
above the U-bend. The two-fluid model analysis code is capable to closely reproduce the gas-liquid
separation phenomenon.

Figure 4 Analysis results of steam generator

3.2Reboiler4 in chemical plant

Figure 5 shows an example of MHI chemical plant system. This paper reports the design
analysis for the device called reboiler, which heats up and evaporates the process liquid. As
presented in Figure 6, superheated steam enters the thin heat transfer tubes in the reboiler and fully
condensed there. Saturated process liquid flows outside the tubes and receives heat. A part of theheated process liquid evaporates and leaves the reboiler in two-phase state.

Figure 5 Reboiler in chemicalplant

Figure 6 System diagram of periphery of reboiler(example)Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 2 (June 2018)
4The two-phase flow simulation tool can be applied to evaluate the reboiler performance. As
shown in Figure 7, the prediction accuracy of the heat transfer rate of the demonstration plant is
10% (-10% in this example; which means the plant performance is underestimated). Figure 8
shows the distribution of quality (mass flow rate fraction of the gas phase). The capability topredict the occurrence of a high-quality region inside the reboiler makes it possible to identify theoperation conditions leading to the deterioration of the heat exchange performance. It can beconfirmed that high quality zones shown in Figure 8 correspond to the low heat transfer rate zones
in Figure 9.

Figure 7 Analysis results of heat exchange amountFigure 8 Evaluation of quality (mass flowrate fraction of gas phase) distribution

Figure 9 Evaluation of heat exchangeamount distribution

3.3 Centrifugal chiller5
Figure 10 to Figure 12 illustrate the evaporator of a centrifugal chiller. The refrigerant
flowing outside the heat transfer tubes exchanges heat with the water flowing inside the heattransfer tubes. Knowledge of the heat exchange rate distribution is necessary for the structural
integrity evaluation on those long heat transfer tubes, and the liquid level of the refrigerant is an
important parameter for designing the gas-liquid separation device. By performing two-phase flow
analysis of the evaporator, these design indices can be evaluated.

Figure10 Chiller external view
(quoted from ETI-Z series brochure)

Figure 12

Evaporator side view

Figure 11

Evaporator sectional view

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 2 (June 2018)
5Design analysis focuses on the fluids flow inside the shell side of the evaporator, and thetube bundle is treated as a porous media (resistance simulating body). The thermal hydraulicanalysis of the whole evaporator was performed with modelling the heat exchange between thecold water in the tubes and the refrigerant outside the tubes. From the void fraction contour (gasvolume fraction distribution) presented in Figure 13, it is possible to identify the occurrence of
low-void regions (regions with larger amount of liquid). Such result is essential for properly
designing the gas-liquid separator inside the evaporator. Furthermore, temperature distribution in
the tube axial direction can be derived from the heat flux contour shown in Figure 14. Such result
is essential for assessing the structural integrity under uneven temperature distribution.

Figure 13 Void fraction distribution
resulting from analysis

Figure 14 Heat flux distribution resulting
from analysis|4. Conclusion
A two-phase flow simulation technology based on the two-fluid model has been developed inMHI. Validation and design evaluation has been performed for the steam generator of a nuclear
power plant, the reboiler of a chemical plant and the evaporator of a centrifugal chiller. In the steam
generator design, the new developed simulation tool is capable to evaluate the flow velocity andvoid fraction distribution along the U-bend tubes, thus is able to avoid the occurrence offlow-elastic vibration. In the reboiler design, the new developed simulation tool is capable toevaluate the heat exchange performance. For the evaporator of centrifugal chiller, the newdeveloped simulation tool is capable to predict the heat exchange rate and the void fraction
distribution. The void fraction distribution is essential for the design evaluation of the liquid leveland gas-liquid separation performance in the evaporator. The heat exchange rate is essential for thestructural integrity assessment of the evaporator.

References
1. JSME, “Guideline for Fluid-elastic Vibration Evaluation of U-bend Tubes in Steam Generators(JSME S 016)”, (2002)
2. Patent application number, JP,3500-000120, (2002)
3. Patent application number, JP,5101-000012, (2012)
4. Patent application number, JP,5777-000370, (2015)
5. Patent appeal number, JP,2017-201077