Influence of Pipe Inclination on Direct Contact Condensation in Counter-Current Steam-Water Flow

Condensation is a commonly encountered phenomenon in many industries. Counter-current flow situation arises mainly in nuclear reactors in case of loss of coolant accident. If Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) is actuated in a certain condition then liquid that is vaporized due to lack of coolant inside a core and is trying to move upward interacts with the subcooled water injected from ECCS (which moves downward) and condensation takes place with counter-current flow. In this present numerical investigation, a 2-D geometry and volume of fluid approach is adopted for direct contact condensation in steam-water counter-current flow. A user-defined function is used in ANSYS-fluent to model the interfacial mass and heat transfer. The effect of liquid bridge formation in counter-current flow with phase change is observed in this present study. A parametric study is carried out at different angles to see the formation of the liquid bridge (blocked entire cross-section of the pipe) and the flooding phenomenon.