Experimental investigation on steam condensation characteristics in horizontal heat transfer pipe of PRS for HPR1000.

• PRS steam condensation characteristics was experimentally studied. • Test data cover full range of the prototypical pressure condition. • Effects of pressure, steam quality, and mass flow rate were studied. • Test data further expand database of steam condensation in tube. The heat exchanger is an important component of the passive residual heat removal system (PRS) in the Hualong Pressurized Reactor (HPR1000). The heat released via steam condensation inside the heat transfer pipes is delivered to water stored outside of the containment. The heat transfer along the heat transfer pipes is systematically studied experimentally. Three horizontal test sections with different dimensions are designed and employed in the experiment. The test data are obtained under different pressure, steam quality, and mass flow rate conditions and compared with existing steam condensation correlation. The test results reveal that the heat transfer coefficient decreases from 41.5 kW/(m2·K) to 24.0 kW/(m2·K) with the pressure increased from 1.0 MPa to 8.3 MPa. In the higher pressure conditions, the larger condensed flow rate provides larger thermal resistance, decreasing the condensation heat transfer coefficient. The steam condensation heat transfer coefficient is increased from 14.3 kW/(m2·K) to 41.4 kW/(m2·K) as the steam quality is increased from 0.07 to 0.70. The condensation heat transfer coefficient is increased from 28.6 kW/(m2·K) to 45.8 kW/(m2·K) as the mass flow rate is increased from 0.029 kg/s to 0.072 kg/s. The maximum prediction deviation of Shah's correlation for all test data is ±34.9 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]