NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONOF STEAM FILM CONDENSATION ON A VERTICAL TUBE

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Published: 2024-03-04
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31026/j.eng.2010.04.30

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Wail S. Sarsam
Luma F. Ali

Abstract

 Film condensation of steam on a vertical tube is investigated numerically and experimentally,


 


in the present work. A mathematical model was set based on the basic conservation laws of mass


 


and energy, Nusselts analysis of film condensation, and empirical equations available in the


 


literature. Then, a simulation program in FORTRAN language was developed which simulates the


 


film condensation of steam on a vertical tube. A complete steam tables subprogram was also


 


developed and incorporated with the main program. The experimental work was carried out using a


 


steam condensation test bench. The inlet and outlet cooling water temperatures, steam temperature


 


and pressure, tube surface temperature at center, and cooling water flow rate are recorded during


 


each experimental test run. The inlet cooling water temperature, steam temperature, and cooling


 


water flow rate are used as an input for the numerical program, then the program calculates tube


 


surface temperature distribution, cooling water temperature distribution, local heat transfer rate,


 


local condensation heat transfer coefficient, condensate boundary layer thickness distribution, total


 


heat transfer rate, and average condensation heat transfer coefficient. The effect of various


 


parameters on the condensation heat transfer coefficient, such as steam temperature, steam-surface


 


temperature difference, and the presence of non-condensable gas were investigated and reported


 


graphically. It was found that increasing (steam-surface) temperature difference while keeping the


 


steam temperature constant results in an increase in condensate boundary layer thickness, which in


 


turn causes a decrease in condensation heat transfer coefficient. On the other hand, increasing steam


 


temperature and keeping the (steam-surface) temperature difference constant leads to an increase in


 


condensation heat transfer coefficient. In addition, the presence of non-condensable gas with


 


different concentrations was also investigated and it was shown that it causes a noticeable reduction


 


in the average condensation heat transfer coefficient. An equation for calculating average


 


condensation heat transfer coefficient on a vertical tube was also developed. The experimental data


 


obtained from the test runs were compared with numerical results and showed good agreement.


 


Thus, it can be concluded that the present computational program is suitable for simulating steam


 


condensation on a vertical tube. 

Article Details

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 04 (2010): Journal of Engineering

Section

Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 
 

How to Cite

“NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONOF STEAM FILM CONDENSATION ON A VERTICAL TUBE” (2024) Journal of Engineering, 16(04), pp. 6144–6163. doi:10.31026/j.eng.2010.04.30.

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