Advances in the development of a fluid-to-fluid similarity theory for fluids at supercritical pressure: Results from sensitivity analyses

In the present paper, the capabilities of a similarity theory for heat transfer to supercritical pressure fluids are further investigated with respect to past work, widening the range of the addressed operating conditions. In particular, experimental data for water at 25 MPa are here considered; several cases addressed adopting different simulant fluids (i.e. CO2, NH3 and R23), in order to understand possible dependencies of the proposed rationale on the imposed mass flux and the observed heat transfer conditions. The obtained results confirmed the lessons learned from the recent analyses, though highlighting some possible needs for improvements in both the adopted CFD model and the similarity rationale in some specific operating regions. The aim of the present paper is to show further results in relation to the capabilities of the proposed theory, which seems sufficiently mature to be now considered for validation against experimental data.