The Effect of the Treatment of Localised Friction in Two-Phase Mixtures on the Stability of Parallel Channels

A one-dimensional analytical model has been developed to be used for the linear analysis of density-wave oscillations in a parallel heated channel. The heated channel is divided into a single-phase and a two-phase region. The two-phase region is represented by the homogeneous model. The localised friction at the channel exit is treated considering the two-phase mixture. The exact equation for the total channel pressure drop is perturbed around the steady state. The stability characteristics of the heated channel are investigated using the Nyquist criterion. The marginal stability boundary (MSB) is determined in the two-dimensional thermodynamic equilibrium space parameters, the subcooled boiling number and the phase change number. The predictions of the model are compared with experimental results published in open literature. The results indicate a more stable system with (1) low system pressure, (2) high inlet restriction, (3) low outlet restriction, and (4) high inlet velocity. The results show that the model agrees well with the available experimental data. In particular, the results show the significance of correcting the localised friction due to the presence of the two-phase mixture in the two-phase region: explicit inclusion of the two-phase localised friction improves the agreement with experimental results. This effect is more important for high heating power and high inlet subcooling.