Experiments and CFD Analyses on Condensation Heat Transfer on a Flat Plate in a Square Cross Section Channel

The paper discusses the results obtained from an experimental and computational activity devoted to the study of steam condensation in the presence of air onto a flat aluminium plate cooled on the back side by a water flow. The experiments are intended to provide data for the validation of engineering models and CFD codes in applications of interest for the safety analysis of LWR containments. The original experimental data herein discussed involve atmospheric pressure and different air mass fractions (0 to 0.59), air velocities (1.5 to 3.5 m/s) and secondary coolant temperatures (50 to 70 °C). The measured overall condensation rates and local heat fluxes are compared with the predictions obtained by a commercial CFD code, purposely complemented with specific routines required to simulate condensation heat transfer. The obtained results show good agreement between experiments and calculations in most of the addressed conditions.