The Specifics of Design and Prediction of Thermohydraulic Characteristics of Thermosiphons

Recommendations are given on designing thermosiphons (TS) prepared on the basis of the experience that the authors gained in designing more than 4000 TSs for heat-recovery steam generators and the results of long-term investigations and tests carried out to study thermohydraulic and corrosion processes in vertical and inclined TSs filled with steam-water mixture. The results of similar studies performed by other authors are analyzed. References are given to the regulations on the design of heat transfer equipment for thermal and nuclear power stations. The requirements for TS construction materials, the degree of TS filling with water, and the TS vacuum level are outlined. Whether the evacuation of TS may be abandoned was assessed. Measures are proposed to prevent depressurization on water freezing in TSs. Recommendations are given on the calculation of thermohydraulic characteristics and steam-and-gas distribution in vertical or inclined TSs. The conditions of displacement by a steam flow of noncondensable gases, including air, to the top of the condensation zone in a thermosiphon are considered. Various regimes of axial heat transport and heat transfer are described for pure steam condensation (including film condensation, bubble condensation, distribution of different regimes of steam condensation, and condensate cooling along the height of the condensation zone during “flooding”). Heat transfer in the steam condensation from an air-steam mixture (the diffusion component of thermal resistance), maximum power, and the conditions for poorer cooling of the TS heating zone (“flooding,” steam separation at the upper generatrix of the heating zone in an inclined thermosiphon) are examined. Thermosiphons feature a countercurrent flow of steam and its condensate in a single flow with the same mass flowrates. Hence, a special case of “flooding” affecting the maximum power of the thermosiphon, the effect of the incoming steam flow on the heat transfer rate during film condensation, steam-and-gas distribution in a top-plugged channel, corrosion processes in thermosiphons, and hydrogen diffusion through the thermosiphon wall should also be studied.