Multi-dimensional simulation of thermal non-equilibrium channel flow

The Homogenous Relaxation Model (HRM) is used to study thermal non-equilibrium, two-phase flows with flash-boiling and condensation. Typically, such non-equilibrium phase-change models have been studied in one-dimensional flow, but the goal of the present work is to create and utilize a multi-dimensional CFD implementation. The simulations are able to handle general polyhedral meshes, an important convenience for irregular channel or nozzle shapes. The model is applied to flash-boiling flow in short channels and validated against experimental measurements. The simulations predict the multi-dimensional features that have been observed in the past in experiments. Nozzle choking is also observed in the calculations. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.