Development of Heat-Transfer Correlation for Water Flowing in Vertical Bare Tubes at Supercritical Conditions

Abstract

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of heat-transfer correlation for water flowing in bare vertical tubes at supercritical conditions. A large dataset within conditions similar to those of SuperCritical Water-cooled Nuclear Reactors (SCWRs) was obtained from the Institute for Physics and Power Engineering (Obnisk, Russia).A dimensional analysis was conducted using the Buckingham Π-theorem to derive a general form of empirical supercritical-water heat-transfer correlation for the Nusselt number, which was finalized based on the experimental data obtained at the normal heat-transfer regime. The new correlation showed the best fit for the experimental dataset within a wide range of flow conditions.