CT-26 Flooding in Inclined Tubes
HTRI tested reflux condensation of pure, single-component fluids in a 60-degree inclined tube typical in A-frame heat exchangers. Both the recommended HTRI and the HTFS correlations for vertical tubes underpredict the flooding velocity in inclined tubes. The HTRI method predicts higher values than the HTFS method by 27 – 36 percent, depending on the operating pressure. After analyzing experimental data, we added the tube inclination angle as a parameter in the HTRI critical flooding correlation. Predictions of the modified flooding velocity correlation, valid for vertical and inclined tubes, show good agreement with critical flooding data for total reflux condensation. HTRI plans to collect additional data for 30-degree tube inclination to further evaluate the proposed method.