Experimental Investigation of Flow Boiling Pressure Drop of R134A in a Microscale Horizontal Smooth Tube

This paper presents new experimental flow boiling pressure drop results in a microscale tube. The experimental data were obtained under diabatic conditions in a horizontal smooth tube with an internal diameter of 2.32 mm. Experiments were performed with R134a as working fluid, mass velocities ranging from $100kg/m2s$ to $600kg/m2s$⁠, heat flux ranging from $10kW/m2$ to $55kW/m2$⁠, saturation temperatures of $31°C$⁠, and exit vapor qualities from 0.20 to 0.99. Flow pattern characterization was also performed from images obtained by high-speed filming. Pressure drop gradients up to 48 kPa/m were measured. These data were carefully analyzed and compared against 13 two-phase frictional pressure drop prediction methods, including both macro- and microscale methods. Comparisons against these methods based on the data segregated according to flow patterns were also performed. Overall, the method by Cioncolini et al. (2009, “Unified Macro-to-Microscale Method to Predict Two-Phase Frictional Pressure Drops of Annular Flows,” Int. J. Multiphase Flow, 35, pp. 1138–1148) provided quite accurate predictions of the present database.