Experimental Validation of an Analytical Condensation Model for Application in Steam Turbine Design

This paper presents experimental data on shear-stress-driven liquid water films on a horizontal plate formed by the condensation of superheated steam. The experimental results were obtained in the Experimental Multi-phase Measurement Application (EMMA) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The liquid film thickness was spatially and temporally investigated with an optical measurement system. Furthermore, the resulting local heat transfer coefficient in the case of film condensation was determined for a variety of steam velocities and temperatures. Subsequently, the presented data are compared to the results of an analytical condensation model for shear-stress-driven liquid films developed by Cess and Koh. Thus, the model is qualitatively validated, with explicable remaining disparities between the model and experiment that are further discussed. The presented results are an important contribution to the contemporary research into steady-state, single-component multiphase flow considering phase-change phenomena including heat transfer.