A Review on Flow Pattern Maps of Condensation in Horizontal Tubes

Abstract

Two-phase flow pattern is important for investigating heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of condensation in horizontal tubes. And the flow pattern maps are the usual approach to predict flow regimes and their transitions. In this paper, a review on flow pattern maps and flow regime transitions of condensation in horizontal tubes of Breber et al. (1980), Tandon et al. (1982), Cavallini et al. (2002, 2006), El Hajal et al. (2003), Kim et al. (2012) and Nema et al. (2014) is presented. Furthermore, this paper presents that there are a few flow pattern maps on the condensation, especially for the microchannel. And the proposed maps could not apply to high pressure and low temperature refrigerants and most recent work didn’t well combine the flow regime with the investigation of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop.

Keywords

• flow condensation
• flow pattern
• flow pattern map
• horizontal tube