International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Numerical modelling of steam condensing flow in low and high-pressure nozzles

Sławomir Dykas ⇑, Włodzimierz Wróblewski
Institute of Power Engineering and Turbomachinery, Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 18, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The paper presents the computational results of the wet steam flow through the Laval nozzles for low and
Received 10 April 2012 high inlet pressures. The results of the numerical modelling are compared with experimental data. The
Accepted 12 June 2012 comparisons constitute validation tests of the condensation model implemented into an in-house CFD
Available online 3 July 2012
code solving the RANS equations for the real gas equation of state. The steam condensing flow is modelled
by means of the single-fluid model, which means that the conservation equations are formulated for the
Keywords: vapour/liquid mixture. The water vapour properties are described by means of the local equation of state.
Wet steam
An effective method of determination of water vapour properties are presented in the cases of expansion
Condensation
Laval nozzle
in the nozzle at high pressures. The presented results are compared with published experimental values.
The validation of the in-house CFD code proves its usefulness for modelling the steam condensing flow
for both low and high inlet pressures.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Much effort is currently being made to improve the efficiency of
fossil fuel-fired power plants by even more than 50%. It is con-
nected with the implementation of new ultra-supercritical tech-
nologies and an ongoing push to reduce stack emissions of all
pollutants and to capture CO2. The steam turbine, as a one of the
main units in a power plant, has to be improved to increase effi-
ciency, considering that for high capacity power plants more than
40% of total power is generated in the low-pressure turbine, where
the expansion of steam crosses the saturation line.
There is even more potential for the improvement in the steam
turbine life and efficiency in the case of nuclear power plants. The
nuclear steam turbines operate with saturated low-pressure steam
as well as with high-pressure steam. The works aiming at the
reduction in aerodynamic and thermodynamic losses in the flow
through stages working with wet steam under low or high pres-
sure require that the theoretical assessment of wetness losses is
accurate. Therefore, the correct numerical prediction of the steam
flow field in these cases is essential.
The accuracy of the modern 3-D analysis as a prediction tool has
improved considerably and it can now account for non-equilibrium
condensation flows with different steam wetness conditions and
phase change variations e.g. [1–5].
The correct calculations of steam expansion close to the satura-
tion line for low pressures and for very high pressures need the use
of the real gas model because the relations between the thermal
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: slawomir.dykas@polsl.pl (S. Dykas).
parameters of state are in these ranges non-linear and do not de-
pend on one constant only. So far, however, many researchers
e.g. [6,7] have been using the ideal gas model for the steam flow.
Generally, there are two main ways to include the real gas proper-
ties for the solution to the flow governing equations. One way is to
create tables including all required correlations between the ther-
mal parameters and functions obtained on the basis of the real gas
equation of state. This method requires an efficient search and
interpolation algorithm for a defined range of steam parameters.
Another way is just to use an equation of state directly as a math-
ematical closure of the flow governing equations. The main draw-
back of the latter lies in the fact that in the case of a very complex
form of the gas equation of state, such as the fundamental thermo-
dynamic relations, this method is difficult to implement in the
solution to governing equations for the flow field. The solution re-
quires many correlations and iterative procedures which make the
calculations more time consuming.
The latter method was applied in the used in-house CFD code,
but with a very simple form of the real gas equation of state,
retaining for steam the IAPWS’IF97 quality [8]. A similar strategy
for implementing the simplified equation of state was used by
Bakhtar [9] and White et al. [5].
Effective numerical algorithms that could be used to predict the
wet steam flows in the Laval nozzles and turbine cascades have
been developed and perfected for the last 15 years. For numerical
modelling of the wet steam flow, the condensation phenomenon
has to be taken into account. The homogeneous condensation
was already investigated experimentally and numerically by many
researchers many years ago. The classical nucleation model for
water vapour condensation was validated with the use of various

0017-9310/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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6192 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199
experimental data. In the first place its potential for high-speed
flows in nozzles e.g. [3,10,12] was examined. As interest in such
flows was sparked by the phenomena occurring in steam turbines,
the next step was to examine the model in the simulation of flow
through the turbine cascades e.g. [1–3,5,11,12].
The homogeneous condensation model including nucleation
and droplet growth is very sensitive to thermal parameters, such
as temperature (supercooling) or pressure (supersaturation). The
classical nucleation theory is the basis for engineering calcula-
tions. It describes the process qualitatively but qualitative results
are less accurate. Both the nucleation process and the droplet
growth models include empirical parameters helpful in the cali-
bration process. These parameters do not have a clear physical
explanation and are determined on the basis of experimental
data. Therefore, one of the major issues that remains is to cor-
rectly define water vapour parameters and properties which can-
not be properly determined using the ideal gas model.
The main reason for the use of correction factors is to ensure
the conformity of the pressure distribution in the nozzles with
the measurement results (the location of the Wilson point in par-
ticular), as well as the droplet size conformity. In the case of
water vapour it is also necessary to correct the isothermal nucle-
ation rate by the so called non-isothermal factor proposed by
Kantrowitz, which improves the conformity of pressure distribu-
tions with experimental data. The incompatibility with experi-
ments is much more difficult to eliminate in the case of the
droplet size. Here, the correction proposed by Young [13] in the
droplet growth rate model is the most popular. It comprises
expansion at low pressure and requires calibration. When exper-
imental data are unavailable, this correction can lead to unex-
pected discrepancies.
A considerable part of the research was devoted to the verifica-
tion of condensing flow models using low pressures. The cases for
high pressures were accounted for much less frequently e.g. [14–16].
In this paper the numerical algorithm used for the wet steam flow
modelling and the problems connected with the validation of the in-
house CFD code against experimental data available in literature are
presented and discussed. The low-pressure expansion, as the case
which is very often used in the experiment, is only referred to for
the purposes related to comparison. The rare high-pressure condi-
tions are taken into consideration to show the features of the con-
densation model and to propose the calculation strategy. The
opportunity for that kind of comparison was the detailed description
of the high-pressure experiment presented in [14,15].
2. Physical and mathematical model
All results presented in this paper were obtained by means of an
in-house CFD code. The numerical code is based on time-dependent
3-D Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations, which are coupled
with a two-equation turbulence model (k-x SST model), and addi-
tional mass conservation equations for the liquid phase. The flow
governing equations are formulated for the vapour/liquid mixture
(single-fluid model). The validation of the code was made for both
the nozzle flow and the steam turbine cascade many times, showing
applicability in a practical analysis [4,11,12]. Since the boundary lay-
ers for most condensing flows in nozzles working under normal con-
ditions are very thin and have no impact on the flow in the middle
section, in our calculations the flow was considered as laminar. Addi-
tionally, the paper is focused on a proposal of a solution to the treat-
ment of the wet steam flow for high pressures cases.
For simplicity, it is assumed in the model that the two phases
are governed by the same averaged pressure. The following rela-
tionships connect the liquid and the vapour phase:
y ¼ a qql
q ¼ ð1  aÞqv þ aql ð1Þ
h ¼ ð1  yÞhv þ yhl
where a is the volume fraction and y is the mass fraction of the li-
quid phase. Mixture density q, is a function of vapour density qv, li-
quid density ql, and a. Mixture enthalpy h, is determined in a
similar way, using the mass fraction. Mass fraction y depends on
the volume fraction, as well as on the ratio between the liquid
and the mixture density. The liquid phase has a much higher den-
sity value than the vapour phase. Therefore, in the single-fluid mod-
el, it is assumed that:
q ¼ qv =ð1  yÞ ð2Þ
It should be noted that the application of this common simplifica-
tion in the model gives for low pressures a relative error of density
values of the order of 103 per cent, whereas for high pressures it
can be of the order of 101 per cent.
2.1. Equation of state
In reference literature there are many forms of the real gas
equations of state for steam. At the moment, the most accurate
and widely used, and the one most recommended for industrial
application, is the IAPWS-IF97. It consists of a set of equations
for different regions. The basic equation for each region is the fun-
damental equation for the specific Gibbs free energy. This equation
has a complex form. Therefore, its direct implementation as a
mathematical closure of partial-differential equations into the
CFD code complicates the numerical algorithm significantly and
is time consuming.
On the other hand, the flow through the Laval nozzles and
through the turbine cascades occurs in a rather limited range of
steam parameters and the equation of state covering the whole re-
gion of superheated steam is not necessary. Due to that, a simpli-
fied form of the equation, referred to as the local equation of
state [21], is used in the calculations. The mathematical form of
the used real gas equation of state is similar to the virial equation
of state with one virial coefficient.
p
¼ zðT v ; qv Þ ¼ AðT v Þ þ BðT v Þqv ; ð3Þ
qv RT v
where
AðT v Þ ¼ a0 þ a1 T v þ a2 T 2v
BðT v Þ ¼ b0 þ b1 T v þ b2 T 2v
Coefficients ai, bi (i = 0. . .2) of polynomials A(Tv) and B(Tv) are the
functions of temperature only, and can be found from an approxi-
mation of thermodynamic properties of steam according to the
IAPWS-IF97. Before each new calculation is performed, the con-
stants for Eq. (3) have to be determined for a given range of steam
parameters, like for methods based on tables, where steam tables
have to be created each time.
The proposed simple mathematical form of the gas equation of
state can be very accurate, but only within a narrow range of pres-
sures and temperatures (Fig. 1). The selection of the region de-
pends on the range of parameter changes during expansion and
the accuracy adopted to determine steam parameters. Experience
shows that it is sufficient to assume that the maximum error in
the region under examination for the density, enthalpy and entro-
py values is below 0.05%. The method of water vapour parameter
determination is valid for the superheated steam region and for
the metastable region below saturated line x = 1. In order to define
the approximation surface in the metastable region, special depen-
 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199 6193

The nucleation rate, i.e. the number of supercritical droplets

produced per unit mass of vapour per unit time, is calculated from
the relation obtained according to the classical nucleation theory.
The relation is derived from the assumption of a thermodynamic
equilibrium between critical droplets and vapour. Additionally,
non-isothermal correction factor C is used because the isothermal
model assumption does not apply to vapour:
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  
2r qv 4pr 2 r
J¼C m3=2
m exp b ð4Þ
p ql 3kT v

where coefficient C is calculated from the relation:

  
c  1 hv  hl hv  hl 1 1
C ¼ 1þ2 
c þ 1 RT v RT v 2

and r is the surface tension, mm is the mass of a water molecule, Tv,

Fig. 1. Marked validity range for the real gas equation of state in the Mollier chart.
dencies suggested by standard IAPWS-IF97 are used [8]. In the case
of water vapour expansion in the range of low pressures, it is usu-
ally simple to determine a region encompassing the entire region
of changes in the parameters in the nozzle. It can be defined be-
tween two isobars and two isotherms. Values included within such
region are then relatively easy to approximate.
It is a much more difficult task to determine the region for
expansion at high pressures. Due to the shape of isobars and iso-
therms within the range of high pressures it is impossible to deter-
mine a single range of pressures and temperatures to approximate
steam parameters. The shape of the region is very elongated and
makes it impossible to match the approximation surface accurately
enough. In this case it is suggested that the state path of the
expanding steam should be divided into several segments. The
approximation of the steam parameters proceeds separately for
each segment in a more regular subregion and therefore it is much
more accurate. In the high pressure nozzle cases under analysis,
the nozzle is divided into three subregions. It is possible to deter-
mine the expansion line on the h-s chart for these subregions on
the basis of the dependencies describing the principles of conser-
vation for the 1-D isentropic flow. This makes it possible to assign
appropriate segments of the expansion line to individual subre-
gions of the nozzle. In the next step, the steam parameter range
which is appropriate for a given nozzle subregion is selected for
individual segments of the expansion line. Consequently, each sub-
region of the nozzle is considered with the use of separately se-
lected coefficients of the virial equation of state. In each
subregion the relative error in the determination of all steam
parameters is smaller than 0.05% for density, specific entropy
and specific enthalpy. Water properties are determined with the
IAPWS-97IF formulas which express the dependence of enthalpy
and water density on pressure.
2.2. Non-equilibrium condensation model
qv, hv, ql, hl are vapour temperature, vapour density, vapour specific
enthalpy, liquid density and liquid specific enthalpy, respectively, b
is the correction factor (in the presented calculations b = 1), and
k = 1.38044 1023 J/K is Bolzmann constant.
The radius of critical clusters r⁄ for the applied real gas equation
of state (3) has a form which differs from the known relation for
the ideal gas:
2r
r ¼ ; ð5Þ
ql ðf ðpÞ  f ðps ÞÞ  ðp  ps Þ
where:
0 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi d2A þ4pdB
dA 2 dA B1 þ dA C
f ðpÞ ¼ ln p þ dA þ 4pdB  ln @ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiA;
2 2 d2A þ4pdB
1 dA
dA ¼ AðT v ÞRT v ;
dB ¼ BðT v ÞRT v ;
The further behaviour of critical droplets can be described by an
appropriate droplet growth law. Once the droplets are formed, they
increase in size as vapour molecules condense on their surface. The
energy which is released during the condensation process leads to a
rise in the temperature of the droplets, and hence the droplets be-
come hotter than the surrounding vapour. In the pure vapour the
droplet growth is dominated by the thermal transfer rate.
For low pressures, the size of droplets is much smaller than the
mean free path of vapour molecules. Therefore, the droplet growth
rate should be governed in the first phase by considering the molec-
ular and macroscopic transport process (Hertz–Knudsen model).
However, the choice of the condensation and accommodation coef-
ficients makes the application of the Hertz–Knudsen model difficult
for calculations. In the second phase, when the droplet size be-
comes bigger, the continuous model of the droplet growth rate
can be applied. For very high pressures the free path of vapour mol-
ecules is much smaller than the droplet diameter, which is reflected
by small Knudsen numbers. For this range, the Hertz–Knudsen
model should be used. The problem can be avoided by using the
Gyarmathy droplet growth model, which takes into account the dif-
fusion of vapour molecules through the surrounding vapour, the
heat and mass transfer, as well as the influence of capillarity:

dr 1 kv r  r T s  T v
When the vapour expansion line crosses the saturation line, va- ¼ ; ð6Þ
dt ql ð1 þ 3:18KnÞ r 2 hv  hl
pour becomes supercooled and it is in a non-equilibrium state.
Having reached appropriate supercooling parameters, the vapour where Ts is saturation temperature, kv is the vapour thermal con-
returns to equilibrium as a result of homogeneous condensation ductivity, Kn is Knudsen number defined as the ratio of the mean
free path l of vapour molecules to the droplet diameter, Kn  2rl .

(when the pure vapour is considered). In the presented calcula-
tions the homogeneous condensation phenomenon is modelled The Knudsen number in (6) plays a key role in the coefficient of
on the basis of the classical nucleation theory [17] and the contin- the heat transfer enabling a reasonable accuracy in the entire range
uous droplet growth model of Gyarmathy [18]. of the droplet radii.
6194 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199

behave as a flowing mixture described in terms of the mixture

properties. The applied single-fluid model is a five-equation model
consisting of the mass, momentum and energy equations for a va-
pour/liquid mixture, and two equations describing the formation
and growth of the liquid phase.
@ q @ðquj Þ
þ ¼0
@t @xj
@ðqui Þ @ðquj ui þ pdji Þ @ sji
þ  ¼0
@t @xj @xj
@ðqEÞ @ðquj HÞ @ðqj  uj sji Þ
þ þ ¼0 ð8Þ
@t @xj @xj
Fig. 2. Structure of the solution of the 1D Riemann problem. @ðqyÞ @ðquj yÞ
þ ¼ C1 þ C2
@t @xj
2.3. Interfacial exchange terms
@ðqnÞ @ðquj nÞ
þ ¼ qJ
@t @xj
In the presented models the phase change is represented by two
mass sources, according to the following relations: where E is the specific total internal energy of the mixture.
C1 ¼ 43 pql qr 3 J Pressure p has to be calculated from the relation for the total en-
ð7Þ
C2 ¼ 4pql qnr2 dr ergy of mixture Em, which has the following form:
dt
p 1
where C1 is the mass source of critical droplets of mass created due E  hv ðp; qv Þð1  yÞ  hl ðpÞy þ  uj uj ¼ 0 ð9Þ
to the nucleation process, C2 is the mass condensation rate of all q 2
droplets per unit volume of the two-phase mixture ½kg l =m3m s, and The relation for pressure is of course non-linear due to the non-lin-
n is the droplet number per unit mass. ear form of the applied equations of state for vapour and liquid, and
is solved by means of the Newton iteration method.
2.4. Flow governing equations In this model, the volume of the condensate is neglected. Thus,
the density of the vapour phase is calculated from the mixture den-
A typical approach used for the analysis of two-phase flows is a sity and the wetness fraction only (2). Next, knowing the pressure
single-fluid model, i.e. the individual fluid phases are assumed to and the vapour density, the temperature of the vapour phase is cal-

Fig. 3. Geometry of the Moses/Stein nozzle (top), and assumed validity ranges of the real gas equations of state marked on the Mollier diagram (bottom).
 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199 6195

culated from the equation of state. The liquid temperature is calcu-

lated from the relation proposed by Gyarmathy [6]:
r r
T l ¼ T s ðpÞ  ðT s ðpÞ  T v Þ ¼ T s ðpÞ  DT ð10Þ
r r
The interaction between the droplets is not taken into account in
this model. The heat exchange between the liquid phase and the so-
lid boundary, and the velocity slip between vapour and the liquid
phase are neglected.

3. Numerical method

The described model was implemented into an in-house CFD

code. The system of governing equations was discretised on a sin-
gle or multi-block structured grid using the finite volume method,
and integrated in time using an explicit Runge–Kutta method. An
upwind scheme was used with the one-dimensional Riemann sol-
ver for the real gas. Because the exact solution to the Riemann
problem is computationally expensive, an approximate Riemann
solver was used. The acoustic approximation of the Riemann prob-
lem applied to a vapour/liquid mixture belongs to the FDS (Flux Fig. 4. Computed expansion lines in the Moses/Stein nozzle.
Difference Splitting) group, where the primitive variables are esti-
mated. The solver assumes weak variations across the left- and
right-facing (Fig. 2). To this end, the following mass flux can be
defined:
cL þ cR qL þ qR
m ¼ ; ð11Þ
2 2
where indexes L and R denote the left and the right state of the Rie-
mann problem, respectively, and c is the speed of sound. The ‘‘star’’
state parameters are obtained from the relations:
pL þ pR uL  uR
p ¼ pL ¼ pR ¼ þ m ;
2 2
uL þ uR pL  pR
u ¼ uL ¼ uR ¼ þ ;
2 2m

m ðuL  u Þ  ð12Þ
qL ¼ qL þ ;
c2L
m ðu  uR Þ
qR ¼ qR þ :
c2R

The general structure of the Riemann problem consists of shock

waves and/or rarefaction waves in the u  c and u + c characteristic
fields, and contact discontinuities u. Next, having the primitive vari-
ables from the Riemann problem, the fluxes can be calculated. The
MUSCL technique is implemented to approach the TVD scheme
with the flux limiter to avoid oscillations.

4. Numerical results

Most of the experiments dealt with the steam flow with pure
homogeneous condensation and were conducted in the seventies
and eighties. Many of the published experimental research reports
were devoted to the description of the physical phenomena in wet
steam flows, and the lack of an extended description of the mea-
surement errors and uncertainty is observed.
The experiments of wet steam transonic flows are very costly
and difficult. The measurement techniques are much more sophis-
ticated than in aerodynamic applications. Also, the measurement
errors are often very difficult to estimate, especially in the case
of the liquid phase properties.
For the validation of the in-house CFD code, the experiments of
the nozzle flows for low, as well as for high inlet pressures were
chosen. In the former case, the flow through Moses/Stein [19] noz-
zle was used. For high inlet pressures, the Gyarmathy nozzle [14] Fig. 5. Static pressure and droplet radii distributions along the Moses/Stein nozzle
axis.
denoted as 2/M was applied.
6196 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199
The detailed description of the conducted research and of the
nozzle geometry data presented by Gyaramathy [14] and analysed
also by Hedbeack [15] offers a chance to examine the behaviour of
the nucleation and the droplet growth rate models in a flow with
condensation in a wide range of pressures. A method of determin-
ing the water vapour parameters which makes it possible to con-
duct effective calculations and to ensure the stability of the
numerical scheme was proposed for the high pressure region.
The presented numerical results constitute the validation test
cases for the condensation model. Therefore, all calculations were
carried out with the use of the numerical mesh ensuring a grid-
independent solution.
4.1. Low-pressure nozzle flow
Moses/Stein experiments [19] deliver a set of data for two inlet
boundary conditions: in the first case (MS1) the total pressure and
the total temperature are: p0 = 0.0536 MPa, T0 = 372.8 K, respectively,
and in the second case (MS2) p0 = 0.06766 MPa, T0 = 376.7 K. For these
two conditions numerical calculations were performed. The flow at the
outlet from the nozzle is supersonic.
Fig. 6. Geometry of Gyarmathy nozzles 2/M and 4/B split into three blocks (top), and an example of ranges of steam parameters for the real gas equations of state for each
block marked on the Mollier diagram (bottom).
The calculation domain was discretised using the single-block
mesh with 151  81  3 nodes. In the z direction, a minimal num-
ber of layers were used with the assumption at the boundaries that
the flow was symmetric.
In Fig. 3 the geometry of the nozzle and the outline of the expan-
sion line on the Mollier diagram are shown, which is the starting
point for the adjustment of the parameter range. The marked range
was used for the definition of the local real gas equation of state.
The computed expansion lines for the two cases under consider-
ation are presented in Fig. 4. The Wilson area, identified on the basis
of the place where compression starts as a result of a rapid conden-
sation process, is clearly visible. In this area supercooling reaches its
highest value and a rise in the wetness fraction begins, leading the
system towards a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. It should be
emphasised that the presentation of expansion in the h-s chart is an
important element of the computational code validation. Although
it may just be illustrative in the case of the nozzle, in the case of the
turbine cascade it is significant in the determination of losses.
For Moses/Stein experiments, apart from the static pressure dis-
tributions, the distributions of the droplet radii are given as well.
The comparison of the static pressure distributions (Fig. 5) along
 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199 6197

the nozzle showed that the code was suitable enough to model the
location and intensity of homogeneous condensation. The calcu-
lated radii are about twice smaller than these obtained from exper-
iments (Fig. 5). This particular quality of the presented nucleation
model was confirmed in many studies.

4.2. High-pressure nozzle flow

The majority of experiments for steam condensing flows were

carried out for the inlet pressure and temperatures corresponding
to the conditions in the low-pressure steam turbine. Higher pres-
sure expansions for total pressures were investigated experimen-
tally and numerically by Bakhtar and Zidi [16] and were used for
the code validation among others by Gerber and Kermani [3] and
Giordano et al. [20]. The experiments reported by Gyarmathy
[14] and analysed by Hedbaeck [15] conducted in the early seven-
ties were performed for a very high inlet pressures. For the present
analysis two nozzles were considered: nozzle 2/M and 4/B. For
nozzle 2/M three inlet conditions were used for the calculations
Fig. 7. Computed expansion lines for three test cases considered for the Gyarmathy
whereas for nozzle 4/B two inlet conditions.
nozzle 2/M. Nozzle 2/M. The test cases for nozzle 2/M correspond to tests
denoted as G40E (p0 = 10.89 MPa and T0 = 619 K), G39D
(p0 = 8.827 MPa and T0 = 619.96 K) and G34A (p0 = 5.004 MPa and

Fig. 8. Static pressure and droplet radii distributions in the nozzle 2/M: a. case 40E, b. case 39D and c. case 34A.
6198 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199

T0 = 583.82 K), respectively. The steam condensation phenomenon

for such high pressures could be encountered in a nuclear steam
turbine. The test cases are chosen to use three different high-pres-
sure conditions from an extended spectrum of pressures for the
verification of the condensation model. Moreover, they enable
the validation of the applied strategy for the determination of
the real gas equation of state. The local real gas equation of state
and the IAPWS-IF97 are in good agreement in a small range of
steam parameters. Therefore, the calculation domain was split into
three blocks, and for each block a separate local equation of state
was used. The geometry of the nozzle and the ranges of the local
gas equations of state are presented in Fig. 6.
The calculation domain was discretised using a multi-block
mesh with 20  81  3 nodes in block 1, 60  81  3 nodes in
block 2 and 30  81  3 nodes in block 3. The pressure drop from
the inlet to the nozzle outlet amounts to about 7 MPa, which is 200
times more than for the Moses/Stein nozzle. The expansion rate in
the nozzle is 10,000 s1, which is much higher than that in the
Moses/Stein nozzle. The expansion lines drawn on the h-s chart
for all test cases (Fig. 7) confirm a significant pressure drop in
the nozzle and proper modelling of the steam properties.
Fig. 9. Computed expansion lines for two test cases considered for the Gyarmathy
The calculated pressure distributions and the droplet radii for nozzle 4/B.
nozzle 2/M are compared with experimental data. The comparison
has two main features. Firstly, the computed distribution of the sta-
tic pressure does not coincide with the experimental one in each
case. It can be seen that the course of the calculated expansion line
is very similar to the distribution of the experimental points, but
shifted to the bottom. The location of the Wilson points in the nozzle
in each of the calculated test cases is very similar to the values deter-
mined experimentally. The reasons for the shift of the calculated
pressure distribution in nozzle 2/M are difficult to define unequivo-
cally2/M. It can be seen that the pressure ratio in the throat obtained
from experimental data amounts to 0.62. It seems to be too high in
comparison with the value of the critical pressure ratio.
The second feature concerns the mean droplet size. The com-
puted droplet size was about 2.7 times bigger than given in the
experiment for case G40E (Fig. 8a), 1.75 times bigger for case
G39D (Fig. 8b) and 1.55 times for case G34A (Fig. 8c), in contrast
to the test cases for low inlet parameters, where the computed
droplet size was smaller than the measured one.
Nozzle 4/B. The test cases for nozzle 4G correspond to tests de-
noted as G19B (p0 = 6.147 MPa and T0 = 583.55 K), G20A
(p0 = 4.043 MPa and T0 = 575.33 K). The expansion rate in the nozzle
is 50,000 1/s and is significantly bigger than in the previous cases.
The calculation domain was discretised in the same manner as
for the 2/M nozzle using a multi-block mesh with 20  81  3
nodes in block 1, 60  81  3 nodes in block 2 and 30  81  3
nodes in block 3. The expansion lines for both cases are shown in
the h-s chart (Fig. 9). The condensation onset in both cases is lo-
cated near the wetness line y = 4%.
The pressure distributions and the droplet radii are compared
with experimental data in Fig. 10. Contrary to the previous nozzle,
the computed distributions of the static pressure coincide well
with the experimental one in the two-phase region. In the converg-
ing part of the nozzle and in the throat area a discrepancy appears.
In this region, similar to nozzle 2/M, the experimental data are
shifted up, and in the throat the value of critical pressure can be
read at about 0.63.
The Sauter mean radius of the droplets was about 1.5 times big-
ger for case G19B (Fig. 10a) and about 1.8 times bigger for case G20A
(Fig. 10b). The results for nozzle 4/B confirm the observations made
in the case of nozzle 2/M – the model of the flow with condensation
at expansion from high pressures gives excessively high values of
the droplet mean radius. Within the inlet pressure range of 4–
8 MPa, the ratio of the calculated pressure to the measured one is Fig. 10. Static pressure and droplet radii distributions in the nozzle 4/B: a. case 19B,
contained in the interval of 1.5–1.8. No impact of the expansion rate b. case 20A.
 S. Dykas, W. Wróblewski / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 6191–6199
in the nozzle on the droplet size was observed for the cases under
consideration. For nozzle 4/B the pressure distributions are in better
agreement with the experiment.
5. Conclusions
The paper deals with the validation process of an in-house CFD
code for wet steam flows. The implemented homogeneous conden-
sation model was tested for both low- and high-pressure nozzles.
The capability of the numerical algorithm in regard to vapour
and liquid phase properties was investigated.
The presented numerical results describing the steam condens-
ing flow obtained with the use of the in-house CFD code make it
possible to draw the following conclusions:
- In order to carry out the validation of numerical methods for
modelling the steam flow with condensation, experimental test
cases have to be used with various inlet steam conditions and
geometry;
- The proposed method is effectively applicable to the determina-
tion of the water vapour parameters for expansion at high
pressure;
- With the use of the presented in-house CFD code, it is possible
to predict the steam expansion with a homogeneous condensa-
tion for a wide range of steam pressures and temperatures;
- The implemented condensation model predicts the condensa-
tion onset correctly both for low and high pressures;
- The calculated droplet radii are smaller than those in the exper-
iments for the flow with a low inlet pressure, and higher for the
flow with a high inlet pressure; it can be expected that there is a
range of inlet parameters (1MPa) in which the agreement of
the calculated droplet radii with those measured will be satis-
factory; the applied droplet growth model strongly depends
on the value of Knudsen numbers, which differ significantly
for the low and high pressure values which were used;
- In spite of the disagreement between the computed and mea-
sured droplet sizes, the calculated wetness fraction is correct,
and is compensated for by the number of droplets.
The numerical analysis presented in the paper will pave the
way for correct numerical calculations of the steam flow through
the steam turbine stages.
6199
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