The Effect of Swirl, Inlet Conditions, Flow Direction, and Tube Diameter on the Heat Transfer to Fluids at Supercritical Pressure

An investigation has been made of the factors governing the heat transfer coefficient to supercritical pressure fluids, particularly at high heat fluxes. The deterioration in heat transfer to supercritical carbon dioxide has been experimentally studied with reference to the operating conditions of mass velocity and heat flux, tube diameter, orientation, tape induced swirl, inlet temperature, and pressure. A detailed comparison has been made with the apparently contradictory results of other investigators, and operating regions, in which the heat transfer coefficient behaves differently, have been defined. The terms used to describe these regions are the Reynolds number, a heat-flux parameter, and a free-convection parameter.