CS-10 Improvement of Two-Phase Pressure Drop Method for Shellside Condensation in Plain and Finned Tube Bundles
This report documents the evaluation and improvement of the two-phase pressure drop method for calculating shellside condensation on plain and finned tube bundles. More than 270 data runs of shellside condensation with pure fluids were analyzed to test and improve the existing two-phase pressure drop method. Evaluated results show that the existing pressure drop method gives somewhat high predictions for plain tube bundles and slightly low predictions for finned tube bundles. Based on these data, HTRI has made improvements to the liquid volume fraction, Rl, and the C-factor for two-phase friction pressure drop. We have also developed a new recovery factor, Fm, for momentum pressure drop calculations. Comparisons show that the improved pressure drop method predicts the HTRI shellside condensation data within ± 25 percent.