P.

Saha 1
Nuclear Energy Systems Division,
An Experimental Investigation of
General Electric Company,
San Jose, Calif.
Assoc. Mem. ASME the Thermally Induced Flow
M. Ishii
Reactor Analysis and Safety Division,
Oscillations in Two-Phase
Argonne National Laboratory,
Argonne, III.
Assoc. Mem. ASME Systems
N. Zuber An experimental study on the onset of thermally induced two-phase flow oscillations has
Reactor Safety Research, been carried out in a uniformly heated boiling channel using Freon-113 as the operating
U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, fluid. The effects of inlet subcooling, system pressure, inlet and exit restrictions, and inlet
Washington, D. C. velocity have been studied. The experimental data have been compared with the equilibri-
Mem. ASME
um as well as the nonequilibrium theory including the effect of subcooled boiling. It has
been found that the effect of thermal nonequilibrium should be included in a theoretical
model for accurate prediction of the onset and the frequency of thermally induced flow
oscillations. A simplified stability criterion has also been presented and compared with
the experimental data.

Introduction
The phenomenon of thermally induced two-phase flow instability
is of interest for design and operation of many industrial systems and
equipment such as steam generators, thermosiphon reboilers, and
other chemical process units. Of all the various types of two-phase flow
instabilities, an account of which can be found in the paper by Boure,
Bergles, and Tong [l], 2 the low-frequency oscillations, or the so-called
density wave oscillations, are the most common type encountered in
practical systems. The time period of these oscillations is typically
on the order of the time required for a kinematic (continuity) wave
to travel through the system. Although this particular type of oscil-
latory instability has been studied extensively during the last 15 years,
yet not all the aspects associated with this instability are fully un-
derstood. One of the reasons is the lack of systematic, well-controlled
experimental data on the onset and the frequency of this type of os-
cillation at various system conditions, and with various operating
fluids.
The main purpose of this paper is to present new experimental data
on the oscillatory instabilities which were obtained in a uniformly
1
Present address: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Department of Applied
Science, Upton, N. Y.
2
Numbers in brackets designate References at end of paper.
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division and presented at the Winter
Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, November 30-December 5, 1975, of THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Revised manu-
script received by the Heat Transfer Division August 17,1976. Paper No. 75-
WA/HT-6.
heated boiling channel with Freon-113 as the operating fluid. The
effects of various system parameters such as inlet subcooling, system
pressure, inlet and exit restrictions, and inlet velocity are discussed.
The data are then compared with the equilibrium theory of Ishii and
Zuber [2, 3], as well as with the nonequilibrium theory of Saha and
Zuber [4, 5]. Both the theories are valid for all fluids including
Freon-113 and water at high pressure. According to the equilibrium
model, no significant vapor generation starts until the liquid bulk
temperature reaches the saturation value, and beyond that all the heat
added to the system goes to generate vapor. In reality, however, due
to a thermal boundary layer near the heated surface, significant vapor
generation is possible even if the liquid bulk temperature is below
saturation. This, in effect, increases the length of the region occupied
by the two-phase mixture, but at the same time reduces the local rate
of vapor generation because a part of the heat added is utilized to
increase the bulk temperature of the liquid. In the nonequilibrium
model, this important aspect of two-phase flow is included and it al-
lows us to determine the significance of thermal nonequilibrium in
predicting the onset of flow instabilities. Finally, a simplified stability
criterion which can be used for preliminary estimation of the system
stability boundary has been proposed.
Experimental Apparatus
The Boiling Loop. A schematic of the boiling loop that was used
for this study is shown in Fig. 1. Freon-113 was chosen as the operating
fluid because of its low critical pressure (34.1 bar), low boiling point
(47.5°C at atmospheric pressure), and low latent heat of vaporization

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 liquid temperature at the inlet of the heated test section. There are
D«] GLOBE VALVE two 12.7 mm (V2 in.) Jamesbury ball valves (VT1 and VT2), one at the
>tj BALL VALVE inlet and the other at the exit of the test section. The purpose of these
f™ ELECTRIC HEATER two valves is to put desired amount of throttling at the inlet and the
COOLING WATER exit of the test section.
A degassing tank equipped with an immersion heater and a cooling
coil is mounted at the top of the loop for several reasons. First, to
provide sufficient NPSH for the pump; second, to accommodate
volume expansion during heat addition; and third, to facilitate de-
gassing of the test fluid after the initial charge. The pressure in the
tank is kept slightly above the atmosphere. The operating range of
the loop can be summarized as follows:

Pressure up to 16.5 bar (240 psia)

ACCUMULATOR
Fig. 1 Schematic of the boiling loop
(14.7 X 104 J/kg at atmospheric pressure). All of these features of
Freon-113 led to a low capital and operating cost.
The test section is a 274.3 cm long, vertical round tube made of 304
stainless steel with outside diameter of 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) and inside
diameter of 10 mm (0.402 in.). It is heated directly by a dc power
supply. Because of the constant wall thickness of the tube, the heat
flux is essentially uniform.
Except for the test section and a few secondary tubings, all the
pipings are of standard hard drawn copper tubes of 50 mm (2 in.) and
38 mm (1% in.) dia. A 50 mm dia bypass, fitted with a globe valve
(GV2) and an orifice flowmeter, runs parallel to the test section. A
preheating unit consisting of a heat exchanger heated by steam and
two 1.5 kW variac-controlled electric immersion heaters regulates the
Total flow rate 0-6.31 X 10~ 3 m 3 /s (100 gpm)
Test section flow 0-0.32 X 10" 3 m 3 /s (5 gpm)
rate
Inlet subcooling 0-110°C
Test section power 0-100 kW
The loop was not provided with a filter-dryer because there was no
possibility of contaminating the Freon with water. However, it was
provided with a porous filter for separating the fine solid particles,
and the Freon in the loop was degassed periodically.
Loop Instrumentation. Simple instruments have been used to
measure the flow rate, pressure, temperature, and power to the test
section. An ITT Barton 12.7 mm (% in.) stainless-steel turbine meter
is used to measure the inlet flow through the test section. A turbine
meter was chosen because of its fast response to a slight variation in
flow. The output signal from the meter is fed into an ITT Barton flow
indicator as well as into a Hewlett Packard two-channel strip chart
recorder. The accuracy of the flow measurement is ± 1 percent of the
full-scale flow.
An Acco Helicoid test gauge of range 0-21.7 bar (300 psig) with an
accuracy of ±0.25 percent is installed to measure the pressure at the
inlet of the test section. This pressure is considered the system pres-
sure. The pressure drops across the inlet section (between points A
and B in Fig. 1) and the exit section (between points C and D in Fig.
1) of the test section assembly are measured with two ITT Barton
differential pressure indicators, each having a differential pressure
range of 0-1.7 bar (25 psi). A Statham differential strain-gage type
pressure transducer is used to measure the pressure drop across the
entire test section assembly (i.e., points A and D in Fig. 1) or any other
desired length. The output from this transducer is fed into the same
Hewlett-Packard strip chart recorder where the pressure drop across

-Nomenclature.
Ac = cross-sectional area of the channel, IMfg) hp = density difference between the phases,
m2 P., = system pressure, bar (1 bar = 105 Pf ~ Pg, kg/m 3
2
Co = void distribution parameter, (aj)l N/m ) Ai/g = latent heat of vaporization, J/kg
Pe = Peclet number (pfVfiDhCpj)/Kf Ajsuti = inlet subcooling (j/,sat ~" h), J/kg
cp = specific heat at constant pressure, 31 Q = net heat added to the channel, W Ai\ = subcooling at the point of net vapor
kg-°C qw" = wall heat flux, W/m 2 generation (i/ iSat - J \ ) , J/kg
D/, = hydraulic diameter, m Re/S = flow Reynolds number, pfVfiDh/pf AP = pressure drop, bar
Dh* = nondimensional hydraulic diameter, v = velocity, m/s S2eq = equilibrium frequency of phase change,
Dh/e Vft = velocity at the inlet of the channel, Tg^Ap/ipgpf), rad/s
f = frequency of oscillation, cycle/s m/s
ff = single-phase liquid friction factor Vgj = vapor drift velocity, vg - j , m/s Subscripts
/„, = two-phase mixture friction factor xeim = exit equilibrium quality e = exit of the channel
i = specific enthalpy, J/kg z = axial coordinate, m eq = thermal equilibrium assumption
j = volumetric flux density, m/s ct = vapor void fraction ex = external (supply) to the system
K = thermal conductivity, W/m—°C Tg = mass rate of vapor generation per unit / = liquid phase
hi, ke = inlet and exit orifice coefficient, volume, kg/m 3 -s g = vapor phase
AP/pi>2 X = distance of the boiling boundary from the i = inlet of the channel
t = length of the heated channel, m inlet, m X = point ofnet vapor generation
Npch.eq = equilibrium phase change number, H = dynamic viscosity, kg/m-s
£h = heated perimeter, m Special Notation
7Vsub = subcooling number (Ap/pg)(Aj'sub p = density, kg/m 3 () = area averaged

Journal of Heat Transfer NOVEMBER 1976 / 617

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 the chosen length can be recorded simultaneously with the test section
inlet flow rate.
Copper-constantan immersion thermocouples are used to measure
fluid temperature at the inlet and the exit of the heated test section.
A number of copper-constantan thermocouples are attached to the
outside surface of the test section. Sauereisen Insa-Lute cement was
used to hold the thermocouple beads on the tube wall, and complete
electrical insulation between a bead and the electrically heated test
section was checked. A maximum allowable wall temperature of 400° C
was set to protect the test section in the event of severe dryout. It
should be noted, however, that the maximum Freon temperature
during this study was only 155°C. Therefore, the problem of decom-
position of Freon was not critical.
Power to the test section is measured with a voltmeter of range
0-100 V and an ammeter of range 0-1500 amps. A digital voltmeter
is also used for a more accurate reading. From a number of steady-
state single-phase tests, the maximum uncertainty in power mea-
surement was found to be ± 4 percent of the measured power.
Experimental Procedure and Results
The experiment was conducted in such a way that the data on the
onset of flow instability could be easily plotted on the subcooling
number versus the equilibrium phase change number plane intro-
duced by Ishii and Zuber [2, 3]. For one set of data, i.e., one stability
map, the system pressure, the positions of the inlet and the exit
throttling valves (VT1 and VT2), and the inlet velocity through the
test section (i.e., the flow Reynolds number) were kept constant. The
positions of the throttling valves specify a particular system geometry.
In theoretical analysis, all the equipment at the inlet of the test section
(point A to B in Fig. 1) is lumped together and considered as an inlet
orifice. Similarly, the exit valve VT2 is considered as an exit orifice.
Due to the presence of complicated components like the immersion
heater, flexible joint, turbine flowmeter, etc., it was impossible to
calculate the values of inlet and exit orifice coefficients theoretically.
These values were, therefore, determined experimentally. After the
valves VT1 and VT2 were set at desired positions, the flow and the
pressure drop excluding gravity were measured without heat addition
to the test section. The values of the orifice coefficients, ki and ke, were
then determined from
ALL CHART SPEEDS: 0.5 cm/sec
4.425 kW
APi = kipfVf2 (1)
and
APe ePfvr (2)
Once the system pressure, the inlet and the exit restrictions, and
the inlet velocity were set, an inlet subcooling was established by
adjusting the preheating system. The test section power was then
increased in small steps until sustained flow oscillations were ob-
served. Sufficient time was allowed between two successive power
steps so that the true nature of the system (steady-state or oscillatory)
could be understood. At the advent of two-phase mixture in the test
section, the flow through the test section might change due to different
pressure drop characteristics of two-phase flow. In that case, a slight
adjustment of the bypass valve (GV2) was necessary to maintain the
chosen flow through the test section. However, because of the high
bypass to test section flow ratio (15-20), the boundary condition of
constant pressure drop, which results from the steady-state flow rate,
across the test section at the onset of flow instability was still main-
tained. This was the same as having a flat pump characteristic, i.e.,
dAP e i
•0 (3)
A typical trace of the test section inlet flow with increasing power
is shown in Fig. 2. It shows that the average fluctuation of the flow
increases with increasing test section power. The power at the onset
of flow oscillation is the power where the amplitude of flow fluctuation
starts to increase rapidly (see Fig. 3). The heat loss to the surroundings
is then subtracted from the test section power to obtain the actual
power to the fluid at the onset of flow oscillation. The frequency of
oscillation is determined from the flow trace.
To complete one set of experiments, data points (i.e., actual powers
at the onset of flow oscillations) at various inlet subcoolings were
taken. Seven such sets of experiments were conducted to study the
effects of system pressure, inlet and exit restrictions, and the inlet
velocity. A summary of these tests is presented in Table 1. The details
can be found in [4].
General Observation
Unlike some other studies [6,7], only one mode of sustained well-
defined oscillations of significant amplitude could be detected in the
present program. Attempts were made to increase the test section
power well beyond the first mode of oscillation; but vigorous oscilla-
tion and, in some cases, excessively high wall temperature endangered
the entire system and thus put a limit on the input power.
For any particular set, as the inlet subcooling was increased, the
power corresponding to the onset of instability dropped until a certain
subcooling, and started to increase thereafter. However, the time

:
VVVW\AAAA
1 1 1 1
4
Ai s u b .10 J/kg

O 137
• 2.44
d 5.12
~
^ 60

POWER AT THE i
o / —
ONSET OF INSTABILITY \
1 /
1
~ \ 1
1 1
~
j 1 1 —

J 0
1

—*~| [-*— 1 SEC I O-gT-e.^LTO-QjH - ^ 'j^.-yt -A- '

M I M I II I I I I I I 1I I I I I 1I I I I I I I 1
POWER SUPPLIED TO THE TEST SECTION, kW

Fig. 2 A typical inlet tlow trace with increasing power input (A/SUb = 2.44 Fig. 3 Determination of the point of inception of flow instability (set
X 104 J/kg, set No. IV) No. IV)

618 / NOVEMBER 1976 Transactions of the ASME

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 Table 1 The Experimental Results
Set Pressure vfi A'sub f
No. (bar) kt (m/s) Refs X 10~" (10" J / k g ) (kW) (cycle/s)
I 12.1 2.85 2.03 0.98 5.9 1.14-5.42 4.3-9.0 0.833-0.333
II 13.8 2.85 2.03 0.94 5.9 1.81-6.44 4.3-10.3 0.448-0.324
III 10.3 2.85 2.03 1.02 5.9 0.72-4.35 4.6-7.6 0.912-0.344
IV 12.1 6.55 2.03 0.98 5.9 1.37-5.12 6.1-8.8 0.788-0.342
V 12.1 6.55 2.03 0.72 4.3 1.23-5.28 3.7-7.8 0.540-0.330
VI 12.1 6.55 2.03 1.49 8.9 1.44-5.21 9.3-15.2 0.868-0.412
VII 12.1 2-.85 10.66 0.98 5.9 0.93-4.58 4.2-7.6 0.646-0.288

period of oscillation (inverse of the frequency of oscillation), which According to the nonequilibrium model, the boiling boundary is
was indeed on the order of the transit time of the kinematic wave (i.e., the point where significant vapor generation starts and its distance
on the order of t/up), increased monotonically with increasing inlet from the inlet can be given by [8]
subcooling. These trends of input power and time period of oscillation For
are completely in agreement with the theories discussed later in this
P[V[iAc(Mauh - At\)
paper. Aj 8ub > At'x, X= (6)
Significant time lag between the system (point A to D) pressure
drop (cause) and the inlet flow (effect) was observed during the un- where
stable operation. A typical trace is shown in Fig. 4, where the phase
shift is in between 90 and 180 deg. From other traces, it was found that Aix = 0 . 0 0 2 2 ^ — ^ i f P e < 70,000 (7)
the inlet subcooling had no appreciable effect on the phase shift. Kf
However, it should be kept in mind that the pressure fluctuation and
during the stable operation and at the onset of instability was negli-
gibly small. Aj\ = 154 - i f P e > 70,000 (8)
Two thermocouples mounted near the exit end of the test section PfVfi
were monitored during the flow oscillations. No appreciable fluctu- For
ation of wall temperature could be observed at either of the two Aiaub<Ajx, X = 0 (9)
locations. This suggests that a flow oscillation does not necessarily The mass rate of vapor generation per unit volume, in the nonequi-
trigger a large amplitude wall temperature oscillation in the two-phase librium theory, is taken as
region.

Comparison of Data With Theories

1 — exp
• — 1 1 (10)

The major difference between the thermal equilibrium theory of
Ishii and Zuber [2, 3] and the thermal nonequilibrium theory of Saha
and Zuber [4, 5] is in the location of the boiling boundary (the
boundary between the single-phase liquid region and the two-phase
mixture region) and the rate of vapor generation in the mixture region.
According to the equilibrium model, the distance of the boiling
boundary from the inlet of the heated channel is given by
PfUfiAcAisuh
^eo —
<lw"£h
and, the mass rate of vapor generation per unit volume is
qw"kh
AcAifg
4
CHART SPEED: 2.5 cm/sec, A i s u b - 1.44 x 10 J/kg
PRESSURE DROP
hi
Fig. 4 Trace of inlet flow and system pressure drop (run No. OT 34, set
No. VI)
Both the theories are, however, similar in their formulation, and
assume a constant two-phase friction factor and a constant vapor drift
velocity. They also neglect the effect of heat storage in the tube wall.
The details of the theoretical analyses can be found in [2-5].
The data on the onset of instability for set I—III, i.e., data for various
pressures, but the same inlet and exit restrictions and Reynolds
number, are compared with the equilibrium and the nonequilibrium
theories in Fig. 5. The simplified stability criterion of Ishii [2]:*
(4)
2 \ki + •
fm + k.
Ap L 2Dh*
JV,pch.eq -N, sub -*-e,eq (11)
(5)
" 1+ l\J^+2ke
2 l2Dh* J
which is based on thermal equilibrium model and is applicable for high
subcooling number (Nsub > ir) is also shown. The subcooling number,
(Ap/pg) (Aisub/Ai/g), scales the inlet subcooling and is the dimen-
sionless residence time of a fluid particle in the single-phase liquid
region under the thermal equilibrium assumption. The inverse of the
characteristic frequency of phase change under the thermal equilib-
rium assumption, fleq (= TgieqAp/pfpg), is used as the scaling parameter
for time. The equilibrium phase change number, Qeqi/vfi, scales the
rate of phase change due to heat addition and is similar to the Dam-
koeler group I in chemical kinetics.
In the theoretical analyses, the effect of pressure is absorbed by the
nondimensional parameters, namely the subcooling number and the
equilibrium phase change number. From Fig. 5 it appears that the
data are indeed scattered around one single stability boundary.
However, it should be noted that the exit quality corresponding to
a particular value of equilibrium phase change number increases with
increasing pressure. Both the theories and the data show same general
trend. However, at low subcooling region, the nonequilibrium theory
predicts results which are in close agreement with the experimental
stability boundary. In this region where Aisub < Ai\, there is no sin-
gle-phase liquid region, i.e., there is no time delay in the single phase

Journal of Heat Transfer NOVEMBER 1976 / 619

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 I I 1 1 1 1 1 1'" 1 1 I 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 I
EQUILIBRIUM THEORY DATA NON-EQUILIBRIUM THEORY
NON-EQUILIBRIUM THEORY O SET 1 (kj - 2.85)
~ ISHII IEQN 11)
9 SET II (P s -13.8 bar)
SETI (P s -12.1 bar)
ISHII (EQN11)
SET III t P s - 10.3 bar)
O SETI (k, - 2.85)
10 -
8 - SUBCOOLED
» SET IV (kj = 6.55)

' /X\ '

111
LIQUID .

/ /y/
6
= / y/B * 8
z A *'A*A
A >^X?A ~
4
^ UNSTABLE
+*A At" +*AyA 6 — A ' /'Os
2 /STABLER* ° A / A*y A ' A> *A /'
/SUPERHEATED
I A S~--,--->, A A /( VAPOR 4 A A / ( ' / / rf»'
/ UNSTABLE
1 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
N
pcb. eq / ''A A" /
/ / / / / / 2 _ /STABLE ( 5 ^ 0 ' , 8 /
—
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Xe.eqlPs-13-8"")

/ / /
0
A\ / A\ i>TX r i
10 12 14 16
I
18 20
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
0 0.2 x
e , Gq Ps = 12.1 bar) pch, eq

/ / / / / _/ £ /
0.2 0.4 C.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
0 »10 .3 bar)
X e e q ( P s = 12.1 bar)

Fig. 5 The effect of system pressure, and comparison of data with various
Fig. 7 The effect of inlet restrictions, with k„ = 2.03, Re,s = 5.9 X 10", and
theories, with k, = 2.85, ke = 2.03, Refe = 5.9 X 10", and fm = 21,
fn, = 2(,

region and no fluctuation of boiling boundary. This results in a more shown in Fig. 8, it appears that the system becomes less stable with
stable system as predicted by the nonequilibrium theory. As the the increasing exit restriction only at low subcooling number.
subcooling number is increased beyond a critical value, the single- The effect of inlet velocity is shown in Fig. 9. Although the data
phase liquid region appears and the system becomes less stable. It can show a significant dependence on inlet velocity, the theories, a t
be seen from Fig. 5 that in this region the nonequilibrium theory present, cannot predict such dependence. Further studies, possibly
predicts a less stable system than the equilibrium theory and is con- with variable two-phase friction factor and variable vapor drift ve-
servative with respect to the data on the onset of instability. However, locity, are required to ascertain the observed effect of inlet velocity
the importance of the nonequilibrium model becomes visible from on the system stability.
Fig 6, where the data on the frequency of oscillation, /, are compared One common feature can be observed from all seven sets of data
with the theoretical predictions. presented here. As the subcooling number is increased beyond a
The effects of inlet and exit restrictions are shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. critical value, the experimental stability boundary bends toward the
8, respectively. As the inlet throttling is increased, the data as well as right-hand side from a constant equilibrium exit quality line. This
the theories indicate a more stable system because a larger fraction is in contrast with the theoretical predictions which remain almost
of the system pressure drop is now in phase with the inlet velocity. The parallel to a constant equilibrium exit quality line. In the theories,
converse should be true for exit restriction. However, from the data the value of the void distribution parameter, Co [9], defined as

1.25

— — NON-EQUILIBRIUM THEORY
\
\ — — EQUILIBRIUM THEORY
1.00 -t OSETI IP S -12.1 bar)
V Al
\ S SET II (Ps= 13.8 bar)

\ o A SET III ( P s - 10.3 bar!

A
0.75
- \
\ o
\ A
\ o
\
0.50
\
\ ^ ^ C J A
S
N.
-£__ ^Ao *t 4 o 8
0.25

n J 1 1 1 i i i i i

Fig. 6 Comparison of experimental data on the frequency of oscillation with

various theoretical predictions

620 / NOVEMBER 1976 Transactions of the ASME

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 I I 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1
DATA NON-EQUILIBRIUM THEORY
STABILITY CRITERION
O SETI (kB = 2.031
ABCD-SIMPLIFIED

S SET VII (k„ = 10.66) ACD - ALTERNATIVE

SET IV
ISHII (EQN11)
O SETI (k e = 2.03l

_ « S E T V I I ( k a = 10.661
—
—
— STABLE^/
//PS* / V / X , UNSTABLE

—
/ / / /
—
7
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
/• 1 1
14 16 18 20
10. 12 14 16 18 20

pch, eq

/ / / / / / Fig. 10 Construction of the simplified stability criterion

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
p 12 1b rl
Xe,eql S= - "

.8 The effect of exit restrictions, with k, = 2.85, Re,s = 5.9X 10 4 ,and

for preliminary estimation of the stability boundary. However, a

simplified criterion applicable to the low subcooling number is still
required. It has been shown that the nonequilibrium theory predicts
(aj)/((«) 0')), is taken as one and the vapor drift velocity for the the data at low subcooling number much better than the equilibrium
bubbly churn turbulent flow is used irrespective of the flow regime. theory, and from equation (9), the vapor generation starts from the
In actual system, however, the value of the distribution parameter inlet of heated channel until the subcooling number exceeds a critical
is usually greater than one [8,9], and in annular flow regime the rel- value of (&p/pg)(Ai\/Aifg). Applying the criteria for the point of net
ative velocity between the phases can be much higher than what is vapor generation (equations (7) and (8)), one can express this critical
accounted for in the theories. These aspects of the actual system lead number by
to a lower void fraction, i.e., a higher mixture density, which has a
stabilizing effect. This provides a possible explanation for the dis- (W sub ) cr = 0.0022 Pe — - iVpch,eq if Pe < 70,000 (12)
crepancy in the trends of the data and the theories at high subcooling
number. and

Simplified Stability Criterion ( i V S u b ) c r =154

1 5—JVpch
4-^ eq if Pe > 70,000 (13)
From the previous section, it is apparent that at high subcooling
number, the simplified criterion of Ishii (equation (11)) can be used It is found that once the stability criterion corresponding to the zero
subcooling, i.e., (iVpch,eq)o, is determined from the equilibrium or the
nonequilibrium theory, a simple stability boundary can be constructed
(see Fig. 10). It consists of three parts:
l I 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 A constant equilibrium phase change number Wpch,eq)o for iVsub
DATA NON-EQUILIBRIUM THEORY < (iV8Ub)cr,o, i.e., the part AB.
9 2 A constant subcooling number (iVsub)cr,o, i.e., the part BC.
3 A constant equilibrium exit quality line, equation (11), for NBUi,
O SET IV ( V f i = 0.98 m/sec)
> (Nsvb)cr,o, i.e., the part CD.
A SET VI ( V ( i - 1 . 4 9 m/sec) An alternative, and a more conservative, stability boundary for Wsub
< (^sub)cr.o could be the straight line AC, as shown in Fig. 10.
ISHII (EQN 11)

SET IV, V. AND VI

— Summary and Conclusions
New experimental data on the onset of so-called density wave os-
-
/ A/ ~y
cillations and their frequency of oscillations have been presented.
Significant time lag between the system pressure drop and the inlet
flow was observed during the unstable operation.
'STABLE /T O/* A
UNSTABLE
When compared with the thermal equilibrium and the thermal
— / — nonequilibrium theories, the data on the onset of instability at low
subcooling number and the data on the frequency of oscillation show

7 1 1 /\
8
I l l ^ v
10 12
/
14
I
16
I
better agreement with the nonequilibrium theory. This success of the
nonequilibrium theory is primarily due to a more realistic description
of the boiling boundary. The discrepancy between the trend of the
theories (equilibrium as well as nonequilibrium) and the data on the
pch, eq
_^ / onset of instability at high subcooling number is believed to be due
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 to a higher value of the void distriBution parameter, Co, and a higher
X » . « . C . = ".1">arl relative velocity in the actual system. Further work is needed in this
area.
Fig. 9 The effect of inlet velocity, with k, = 6.55, ke = 2.03, and /,„
2(, The effects of system pressure and inlet and exit restrictions are

Journal of Heat Transfer NOVEMBER 1976 / 621

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 well predicted by the theories. However, further studies are necessary
to ascertain the observed effect of the inlet velocity.
A simplified stability criterion for low subcooling number has been
proposed which can be used for a preliminary estimation of the system
stability boundary along with the simplified criterion of Ishii (equa-
tion (11)) for high subcooling number.
Acknowledgments
The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation
under grant number GK-16023 and was carried out in the School of
Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta,
Georgia.
References
1 Boure, J. A., Bergles, A. E., and Tong, L. S., "Review of Two-Phase Flow
Instability," ASME Paper No. 71-HT-42.
2 Ishii, M., "Thermally Induced Flow Instabilities in Two-Phase Mixtures
in Thermal Equilibrium," PhD thesis, School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga., June 1971.
3 Ishii, M., and Zuber, N., "Thermally Induced Flow Instabilities in Two-
622 / NOVEMBER 1976
Downloaded From: http://heattransfer.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/09/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use
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4 Saha, P., "Thermally Induced Two-Phase Flow Instabilities Including
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Transactions of the ASME