A formal approach for the prediction of the critical heat flux in subcooled water

The critical heat flux (CHF) in subcooled water at high mass fluxes are not yet satisfactory correlated. For this scope a formal approach is here followed, which is based on an extension of the parameters and the correlation used for the dryout prediction for medium high quality mixtures. The obtained correlation, in spite of its simplicity and its explicit form, yields satisfactory predictions, also when applied to more conventional CHF data at low-medium mass fluxes and high pressures. Further improvements are possible, if a more complete data bank will be available. The main and general open item is the definition of a criterion, depending only on independent parameters, such as mass flux, pressure, inlet subcooling and geometry, to predict whether the heat transfer crisis will result as a DNB or a dryout phenomenon