Numerical Study of Pressure Drop Oscillations in Parallel Channels

Pressure drop oscillations have been modeled and analyzed in the present study. The purpose of the present study is to understand the behavior of the individual channels in a parallel arrangement under different conditions such as balanced and unbalanced heat loads and operation mass flux during pressure drop oscillations. The differential equations have been solved using the least squares method. The cases with two parallel channels with balanced and unbalanced heat loads have been discussed. The modes of oscillations found in both cases are in phase and the unstable region can be divided in two characteristic regions. The so called “Region 1”, where the oscillations themselves take place, and a second region, “Region 2”, dominated by stable maldistributed solutions.