Experimental investigation of flooding in air-water counter-current flow with a vertical adiabatic multi-rod bundle

The process of flooding phenomenon in a vertical adiabatic 3 x 3 tube bundle flow channel has been studied experimentally. A series of tests was performed, using three types of tube bundle differing only in the number of spacer grids attached, to investigate the effects of spacer grids and multi-flow channel interactions on the air-water counter-current flow limitations. Experimentally determined flooding points at various water film Reynolds numbers for three different test sections are presented in graphical form and compared with entrainment criterion for co-current flow and instability criteria. In addition, empirical flooding correlations of the Kutateladze type are obtained for each type of test section using liquid penetration data