Experimental and numerical study on the heat transfer deterioration of supercritical nitrogen in a vertical tube

Abstract

Supercritical cryogenic fluids exhibit significant potential for diverse applications across various industries, including liquid air energy storage, high-temperature superconducting cables, and hypersonic vehicle engine cooling. Heat transfer deterioration (HTD) poses a substantial risk to the system safety. In this study, we constructed an experimental system and performed numerical simulations to illustrate buoyancy (Bu) and thermal acceleration (Ac) effects on HTD of supercritical nitrogen (SCN₂). The newly established thresholds for buoyancy and thermal acceleration (Bu_th=1.8×10⁻⁴ and Ac_th=4.4×10⁻⁵), considering pseudo two-phase characteristics, can effectively capture buoyancy and thermal acceleration in the first and second HTD regions. The first region is influenced by the combined effect of buoyancy and thermal acceleration, while the second region is mainly influenced by thermal acceleration. The new correlations and thresholds accurately predict the occurrence of HTD and the peak position. The experimental and simulation results contribute to understanding the impact of buoyancy and thermal acceleration on SCN₂ HTD.