CFD-simulation of boiling in a heated pipe including flow pattern transitions using the GENTOP concept

•Boiling flow inside a wall heated vertical pipe is simulated by a multi-field CFD approach.•The paper presents the extension of the GENTOP model for phase transfer.•The simulation of flow regimes transitions during boiling in a pipe is now feasible. Boiling flow inside a wall heated vertical pipe is simulated by a multi-field CFD approach. Sub-cooled water enters the pipe from the lower end and heats up first in the near wall region leading to the generation of small bubbles. Further along the pipe larger and larger bubbles are generated by coalescence and evaporation. This leads to transitions of the two-phase flow patterns from bubbly to churn-turbulent and annular flow. The CFD simulation bases on the recently developed GEneralized TwO Phase flow (GENTOP) concept. It is a multi-field model using the Euler-Euler approach. It allows the consideration of different local flow morphologies including transitions between them. Small steam bubbles are handled as dispersed phases while the interface of large gas structures is statistically resolved. The paper presents the extension of the GENTOP model for phase transfer and discusses the sub-models used. Finally the above mentioned boiling pipe is considered as demonstration case.