Investigation of the Heat Transfer and Flow Characteristics in the Supersonic Steam Flow in the Nozzle

The thermal vapor compressor (TVC) is an essential part that governs the overall process in the MED (Multiple-Effect Distillation) -TVC system. The flow and heat transfer in the TVC is very complex due to the strong compressibility, non-equilibrium phase change and supersonic turbulent flow of the stream. So in improving the performance of an ejector system, an investigation of the characteristics for the heat transfer and high speed flow in inside the ejector is often required. In the present study, the supersonic steam flow with non-equilibrium phase change and condensation shock was numerical studied based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The special phenomena in the supersonic steam flow in the nozzle were investigated. The effects of various operating pressures and temperatures on the nozzle performance were investigated. The research explored the effect of steam pressure, temperature, supercooling level and super-saturation ratio on the onset of the nucleation and the intensity of condensation shock in the supersonic steam flow.