Assessment of flow stability boundaries in a heated channel with different fluids at supercritical pressure

This paper presents results on the stability of a simple heated channel containing fluids at supercritical pressure with an external imposed pressure drop. Basing on a recent work that discussed stability characteristics in a fluid-to-fluid comparison perspective, additional data are presented in order to discuss relevant parametric effects, also including a more accurate fluid-to-fluid comparison. Three different analysis tools, including a system code and in-house linear and transient analysis programs, were adopted to evaluate stability thresholds at different channel throttling conditions and orientations; four different supercritical fluids were considered. The diversity of the adopted tools and the good level of agreement observed in the comparison of their results provide adequate confidence on the general reliability of the obtained information. Among the addressed phenomena, both Ledinegg and density-wave oscillations are considered, pointing out a fundamental continuity between the two phenomena that occur in adjoining regions of the parameter space. Numerical effects are also highlighted, quantifying the impact of truncation error occurring in the use of system codes in the analysis of flow instabilities. The results obtained by different fluids provide further support to the conclusion that, when an appropriate dimensionless formalism is used, the differences obtained in the stability behaviour at imposed heat flux are relatively small for a number of fluids of interest for experimental analyses. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.