Two-dimensional numerical simulation of boiling two-phase flow of liquid nitrogen

Two-dimensional characteristics of the boiling two-phase flow of liquid nitrogen in a duct flow are numerically investigated to contribute to the further development of new high-performance cryogenic engineering applications. First, the governing equations of the boiling two-phase flow of liquid nitrogen based on the unsteady drift-flux model are presented and several flow characteristics are numerically calculated taking account the effect of cryogenic flow states. Based on the numerical results, a two-dimensional structure of the boiling two-phase flow of liquid nitrogen is shown in detail, and it is found that the phase change of liquid nitrogen occurs in quite a short time interval compared with that of two-phase pressurized water at high temperature. Next, it is clarified that the distributions of pressure and the void fraction in a two-phase flow show a tendency different from those of fluids at room temperature because of the decrease in sound velocity due to large compressibility and the rapid phase change velocity in a cryogenic two-phase mixture flow. According to these numerical results, the fundamental characteristics of the cryogenic two-phase flow are predicted. The numerical results obtained will contribute to advanced cryogenic industrial applications.