Analysis of Frictional Pressure Drop Correlations of Refrigerant Two-Phase Flow in Mini-Channel

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the frictional pressure drop correlations in two-phase flow in mini-channel, describes the relationship of inheritance and development between the correlations, and points out the innovation between different correlations. In order to evaluate the universality and precision of various correlations, it establishes a large frictional pressure drop database, which is specialized for mini-channels. This database includes 1302 and 1576 data points under evaporation and condensation/adiabatic conditions, respectively. Finally, it evaluates and analyzes 26 correlations under different conditions. The results show that the Sempértegui-Tapia and the Kim correlation have the best prediction ability under evaporation conditions and condensation/adiabatic conditions, respectively. This paper provides some advice on the improvement of correlation.

Keywords

• two-phase flow
• frictional pressure drop
• correlations
• evalution