Heat transfer in CO2 at supercritical pressures in an eccentric annular channel

An experimental investigation of a supercritical heat transfer in an eccentric annular channel was performed using a supercritical heat transfer test facility, SPHINX, at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The eccentric channel was built by placing a 9.5 mm outer diameter heater rod in a 12.5 mm inner diameter tube with an eccentricity of 0.33. The narrowest gap was 1 mm, and the widest gap was 2 mm. The rod was heated indirectly by an imbedded Nickel Chrome heating wire made of NCHW1. Three simple spacers were installed to see their effect, if any, on the heat transfer. The mass fluxes were 400 and 1200 kg/m2 s, and the heat flux was varied between 30 and 150 kW/m2 such that the pseudo-critical point was located within the test section as long as possible. When this was not the case, several tests with stepwise increased inlet temperatures were performed so that at least one of them included the pseudo-critical point. The tests were performed at two different pressures of 7.75 and 8.12 MPa to check the pressure effect. The influence of the gap size was clearly seen with the eccentric channel, if not significant. The wall temperatures along the narrowest gap were higher than those along the widest gap as expected, while it was reversed at the end part of the test section. The test results for the eccentric channel were not much different from those for the concentric channel of a similar gap size. As we have seen from the plain tube test, the diameter effect on the heat transfer was also not significant in this test. On the contrary, the effect of the spacer as a turbulence generator was noticeable, particularly at the thermocouples, which were 10 mm downstream from the trailing edge of the first spacer.