Study of Steam-Induced Convection in a Rotating Vertical Flow Channel

Abstract

The phenomenon of steam–water direct contact condensation has significance in a wide range of industrial applications. Superheated steam was injected upward into a cylindrical water vessel. Visual observations were conducted on a turbulent steam jet to determine the dimensionless steam jet length compared to the steam nozzle exit diameter and the steam maximum swelling ratio as a function of steam mass flux at the nozzle exit, with a gas steam flux ranging from 295–883 kg/m2s. The Reynolds number based on the steam jet’s maximum expansion ranged from 41,000 to 93,000. Farther above of the condensation region, the jet evolved as a single-phase heated plume, surrounded by ambient water. Mean axial central velocity profiles were determined against the steam mass flux ranging from 295–883 kg/m2s to observe the exponential drop in the mean axial velocity as the vertical distance increased. The radial velocity distribution within the spread of the jet was determined to be self-similar, and the radial distribution of the velocity profile followed the Gaussian function, after the proper scaling of the vertical distance and the axial mean velocity.

Keywords

• DCC steam injection
• single-phase thermal plume
• mean axial velocity
• plume Richardson number