International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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

Numerical investigation of different heat transfer behaviors of

supercritical CO2 in a large vertical tube
Qian Zhang a, Huixiong Li a,⇑, Jialun Liu b, Xianliang Lei a, Chao Wu a
a
State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, PR China
b
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710065, PR China

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

Article history: The design and optimization of key heat exchange components in supercritical CO2 (sCO2) Brayton-cycle
Received 16 May 2019 need a thorough understanding to heat transfer of sCO2. As a continuation of our experiments, numerical
Received in revised form 28 September studies are performed to explore the mechanisms behind different heat transfer behaviors of sCO2
2019
occurred at different mass fluxes. Seven turbulence models are assessed against the test data, and the
Accepted 22 October 2019
Available online xxxx
v2f model and SST k-x model are recommended for low and normal mass flux cases, respectively. A novel
analysis approach is proposed by treating heat transfer of SCFs as a coupling of heat conduction of bound-
ary layer, pseudo-phase-change heat transfer of large specific heat (cp) fluid and convective heat transfer
Keywords:
Supercritical carbon dioxide
of turbulence core. For low mass flux cases, the special heat transfer enhancement (HTE) in low fluid
Heat transfer enhancement enthalpy (hb) region is mainly caused by strong buoyancy effect, which thins the thickness of viscous
Heat transfer deterioration sub-layer and promotes turbulent kinetic energy (k). But for normal mass flux case, heat transfer deteri-
Low mass flux oration (HTD) occurs due to decreasing fluid thermal conductivity (k) of viscous sub-layer and suppress-
Buoyance effect ing turbulence via buoyancy. The buffer layer plays a bridge for heat transfer from viscous sub-layer to
external turbulence region. Meanwhile, a noteworthy phenomenon is that, the heat conduction process
of boundary layer shows a strong relevance with the evolution of heat transfer behaviors, and has a great
effect on overall heat transfer of sCO2, but this is seldom concerned in former research.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the effect of operating parameters on heat transfer of sCO2, it is still

The Brayton-cycle using supercritical CO2 (sCO2) as working
medium has attracted more and more attention in wide applica-
tions [1], such as concentrating solar system [2], enhanced
geothermal system [3], advanced nuclear system [4], and coal-
fired power plant [5], due to its higher efficiency and energy flux
density than the conventional Rankine-cycle with water. The
sCO2 turbine can achieve higher power with fewer stages and
much smaller size compared with the steam turbines, bringing
lower cost, higher flexibility, and excellent peak-shaving capacity
[6]. Until now, studies on sCO2 Brayton-cycle applying to these
advanced systems are mostly at the beginning. The design and
optimization of key devices involving heat transfer of sCO2 are still
a fundamental issue, which is important to the overall system effi-
ciency and should be deeply researched [7].
A comprehensive understanding to heat transfer of sCO2 within
a wide parameter range is necessary. Over the past several decades,
though many experiments [8–15] have been performed to study
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: huixiong@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (H. Li).
hard to make the mechanisms of sCO2 unique heat transfer
(including the heat transfer deterioration (HTD) and enhancement
(HTE) [16]) clear, which are seriously influenced by the sharply
variable thermophysical properties and some additional effects
(buoyancy and thermal acceleration induced by radial and axial
density gradients) as sCO2 crosses the pseudo-critical point.
Recently, both Wang et al. [17] and our former survey [18] show
that existing experimental studies on heat transfer of sCO2 were
mostly focused on small tubes with inner diameter (d) less than
10 mm, which catered to the application of refrigeration systems
in the past but might not be suitable for the large tubes in future
coal-fired and nuclear power systems with sCO2 Brayton-cycle.
Additionally, due to the miniaturization of sCO2 Brayton-cycle, it
is inevitable to undertake the peak-shaving task during the future
multi-energy complement layout in China. When power load low-
ers, heat transfer characteristics of sCO2 with low mass flux thus
should be considered. Our former experimental study have found
that [18], heat transfer of sCO2 with lower mass flux were saliently
different from a larger mass flux. As Fig. 1 shows, with increasing
heat flux (q), wall temperature (Tw) curve at G = 400 kg/m2
s turns
from smooth to peak and HTD occurs. But when G lowers to

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944
0017-9310/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Q. Zhang, H. Li, J. Liu et al., Numerical investigation of different heat transfer behaviors of supercritical CO2 in a large vertical tube,
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944
2 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

Nomenclature

cp specific heat (kJ/kg
K) Greek symbols

C heat transfer state number k thermal conductivity (kW/m
K)
D inner diameter of tubes (mm) l dynamic viscosity (Pa
s)
g gravity (m/s2) q density (kg/m3)
G mass flux (kg/m2
s) d thickness of boundary layer (m)
h fluid enthalpy (kJ/kg) s turbulence shear stress (kg/m
s2)
htc heat transfer coefficient (kW/m2
K)
k turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2) Subscripts
Nu Nusselt number, ¼ htc
d=k b at bulk fluid temperature
P pressure (MPa) buf at buffer layer
Pr Prandtl number, ¼ cp
l=k db calculated by D-B correlation
Q heat flux (kW/m2) in at the inlet of the tube
R thermal-conduction resistance (m2
K/W) pc at pseudo-critical temperature
Re Reynolds number, ¼ G
d=l sub at viscous sub-layer
T temperature (°C) t turbulent
u axial velocity of fluid (m/s) v viscous
us friction velocity (m/s) w at wall temperature
y distance to the inner wall of tubes (m)
y+ the nondimensional distance to the wall

(a) G = 400 kg/m2·s (normal mass flux) (b) G = 100 kg/m2·s (low mass flux)
Fig. 1. Comparison of heat transfer behaviors of sCO2 under different mass fluxes [18].

100 kg/m2
s, Tw keeps slowly rising at much larger q/G and heat
transfer is yet enhanced instead of deterioration. This monotoni-
cally rising Tw at low G but high q/G has also been displayed in
few other studies [19,20]. However, the mechanisms to this special
HTE and different heat transfer behaviors under different mass flux
conditions have still no explanation in published papers.
In another respect, owing to the difficulties in experimentally
measuring flow fields and distributions of supercritical fluids
(SCFs) with high pressure and temperature, numerical methods
provide an approach for exploring the complicated heat transfer
mechanisms of SCFs. One of the most important issues for accu-
rately modeling heat transfer of SCFs is the chosen of turbulence
model. Table 1 summarizes the turbulence models employed by
different researchers for simulating heat transfer of sCO2. It sug-
gests that, the v2f model [21] and various Low-Reynolds number
k-e models (LRM), including Launder and Sharma (LS) model
[22], Abe-Kondoh and Nagano (AKN) model [23], Yang and Shih
(YS) model [24], and Myong-Kasagi (MK) model [25], were mostly
used and recommended for sCO2 flowing in small tubes (d <
~10 mm). But in recent studies with large tubes, the Shear-Stress
Transport k-x (SST) model [26] was popularly employed and pre-
sented superior accuracy in simulating heat transfer of sCO2.
Table 1 also shows that the model validation and numerical anal-
ysis for heat transfer of sCO2 are mostly focused on relative large
mass flux conditions (G > 300 kg/m2
s) but are deficiently studied
with low mass flux (G < 300 kg/m2
s), whose heat transfer behav-
iors are apparently different from a G > 300 kg/m2
s (as shown in
Fig. 1). The evaluation of turbulence models for predicting heat
transfer of sCO2 with low mass flux is needed.
To understand the heat transfer characteristics of SCFs, Xu et al.
[38] discussed the relationship between the location of Tpc in radial
direction and heat transfer of sCO2, and considered that HTD was
mainly induced by buoyancy effect reducing the turbulence inten-
sity when Tpc was in buffer layer. Guo et al. [37] numerically

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944
 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Table 1
Turbulence models employed by researchers for simulating heat transfer of sCO2.

Authors d (mm) G (kg/m2
s) Turbulence models Tubes

He et al. [27] 0.948 582 LS model Circular tube
He et al. [28] 5 646 AKN model and v2f model Circular tube
Sharabi et al. [29] 7.8 314 YS model Circular tube
Jiang et al. [30] 0.0992 1823 AKN model Circular tube
Forooghi et al. [30] 4 73, 272, 545 v2f model Inclined tube
Bae et al. [31] 4.57 400 MK model Circular tube
Cheng et al. [32] 22.8 311 SST k-x model Circular tube
Liu et al. [33] 10 303.3, 538.4 SST k-x model Circular tube
Zhang et al. [34] 19 564.3, 1000 SST k-x model Circular tube
Fan et al. [35] 38 1000–2000 SST k-x model Circular tube
Cui et al. [36] 1.8 157.2 SST k-x model Serpentine tube
Guo et al. [37] 2, 6 200, 500, 1500 SST k-x model Circular tube

analyzed heat transfer of sCO2 in 6-mm vertical tube, and also con-
cluded that buoyancy effect reducing turbulence with flatten
velocity distribution could impair the heat transfer. Generally, for
turbulent convection in tubes, the main thermal resistance during
heat transfer from wall to main flow is usually concentrated on the
heat conduction process of boundary layer. To the authors’ knowl-
edge, however, most existing studies [28,32,33,38–40] paid more
attention on the relation between Tw trend and turbulence effect,
and the HTD of SCFs was frequently ascribed to the degeneration
of local turbulence strength caused by buoyancy or thermal accel-
eration effects. The effect of heat conduction on heat transfer of
SCFs may also be influenced by buoyancy and acceleration effects
via modifying the boundary layer structure and thermal property
distributions, but was extremely seldom discussed in past
research. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding to heat trans-
fer mechanisms of sCO2 is still lacked and deep analysis to variable
heat transfer behaviors of sCO2 by combining the turbulence, heat
conduction, and pseudo-phase-change effects are necessary.
From the above, this paper performs a continuous work of our
previous experiments and aims to numerically reveal the mecha-
nisms of different heat transfer behaviors of sCO2 occurred at dif-
ferent mass fluxes. Based on the experimental data, seven
turbulence models are assessed against the heat transfer with
low mass flux. The flow field details and distributions are obtained
with varying operating conditions. To better reveal the heat trans-
fer mechanisms of SCFs, a novel analysis approach is proposed and
adopted, and the underlying mechanisms of both HTE and HTD of
sCO2 with different mass fluxes are comprehensively discussed by
considering all three effects of heat conduction of boundary layer,
pseudo-phase-change heat transfer and turbulent convective heat
transfer. Finally, the relations between heat conduction process
of boundary layer and local heat transfer characteristic of sCO2
are focused.
2. Numerical methods
2.1. Physical model and boundary conditions
The simulating geometry employed in this study is a vertically
upward circular tube with 16 mm inner-diameter and 2 mm wall
thickness. For a complete modeling against the experiments, a
three-dimensional domain was built, which is exactly the same
as our experimental section [18], as presented in Fig. 2. The heated
length of the tube was 4 m (250d) and two adiabatic sections
(0.35 m) were reserved at both two ends to weak the entrance
and exit effects and obtain a full-developed turbulent flow. The
working fluid (sCO2) was assumed as incompressible. Constant
mass flux with preset temperature was adopted at the inlet, and
pressure outlet condition was set at the outlet. Uniform heat flux
condition was exerted on the outer tube wall, and the inner wall
was set as no slip boundary. The interface between wall and fluid
was set as fluid-solid coupling to consider the effects of both heat
conduction and convection. Since the pressure drop along the tube
was much smaller (<0.13%) than operation pressure, physical prop-
erties of sCO2 were treated as independent of pressure and
obtained from NIST Standard Reference Database.
2.2. Governing equations and solution procedure
The coupled heat transfer of sCO2 from heated wall to fluid was
simulated by ANSYS Fluent software. For steady-state flow and
heat transfer, the transport equations of mass, momentum, and
energy can be described as follows:
@ ðqui Þ=@xi ¼ 0 ð1Þ



@ qui uj =@xj ¼ @P=@xi þ @ sij  qu0 i u0 j =@xj þ qg i ð2Þ
   

 l @h
@ quj h =@xj ¼ @ =@xj  @ qu0 j h =@xj ð3Þ
Pr @xj
where q, l and u are the density, viscosity and velocity, respec-
tively. sij defined as Eq. (4) is the viscous stress tensor.


sij ¼ l @ui =@xj þ @uj =@xi  2dij =3
@uk =@xk ð4Þ
According to the Boussinesq approximation and turbulent vis-
cosity lt, the Reynolds-stress tensor and turbulent heat flux can
be written as Eq. (5) and Eq. (6).


qu0 i u0 j ¼ lt @ui =@xj þ @uj =@xi  2kdij =3 ð5Þ
qu0 j h ¼ lt =Prt
@h=@xj ð6Þ
The finite-volume method was employed to solve the governing
equations and the SIMEPEC algorithm was used to treat the pres-
sure and velocity coupling. The second order upwind scheme
was applied to discretize the transport equations for a high accu-
racy. The under-relaxation factors were set as proper values during
the simulation to keep the convergence of the iteration. During the
simulations, variations of outlet temperature and several local wall
temperatures were monitored until no changing. Meanwhile, the
solution was considered to be convergent when the residual is less
than 104 for mass equation and less than 107 for other variables.
2.3. Mesh generation
To achieve a better convergency, structured meshes were gen-
erated for both fluid domain and solid domain by the ANSYS ICEM
software. It should be noted that, due to flow boundary layer, large
temperature gradient exists near the wall. The sharply varied

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4 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 2. Details and boundary conditions of the present simulating geometry.



properties in this thin layer have a significant effect on local heat @ ðqui kÞ=@xi ¼ @=@xj l þ lt =rk
@k=@xj þ Gk  Y k ð7Þ
transfer of SCFs. Therefore, finer meshes were built within the


near-wall fluid region to capture the abrupt properties, as dis- @ ðqui xÞ=@xi ¼ @=@xj l þ lt =rx
@ x=@xj þ Gx  Y x þ Dx ð8Þ
played in Fig. 3. The distance from wall to the first node was set
as 0.0005 mm to keep the nondimensional wall distance (y+) is where Gk, Yk, Gx and Yx are the generations and dissipations of k
always less than 1.0, which is recommended by many researchers and x, respectively, and detailed expressions and constants can
[34,40,41] to capture the details in boundary layer. In the solid be referred in [43] and [26].
domain, coarser grid was adopted due to only heat conduction But for lower mass flux cases (G < 300 kg/m2
s), which was little
effect. The interface between wall and fluid was covered with gra- involved in former literatures, models was not recommended and
dient meshes to keep a smooth grid transition. should be carefully examined. The v2f model, SST k-x model and
Due to little effect of axial mesh distribution on simulated five k-e models (RNG k-e, Standard k-e, Realizable k-e, two LRMs
results [42], the grid dependence was examined with four grid sys- of AKN and YS) were therefore evaluated against experimental
tems from 3,154,200 to 8,586,400 only by changing radial and cir- data. The k-e models can be generally defined as follows:


cumferential nodes numbers. As shown in Table 2, when the total @ ðqui kÞ=@xi ¼ @=@xj l þ lt =rk
@k=@xj þ Pk þ Gk  qðe  DÞ
cell number reaches to 6435500, the relative deviation of average
ð9Þ
Tw between Mesh 3 and Mesh 4 is only about 0.14%. Then consid-
ering less computing cost and an acceptable accuracy, the Mesh 3 

@ ðqui eÞ=@xi ¼ @=@xj l þ lt =re
@ e=@xj
grid system was employed in the following calculations.
þ ðC e1 f 1 Pk þ C e1 f 1 Gk  C e2 f 2 qeÞ þ qE ð10Þ
2
2.4. Turbulence models selection where turbulent viscosity lt ¼ qk C l f l =e, shear production
 
@ui @u
Pk ¼ lt þ @xj @u
@xj @x
i lt @T
and buoyancy term on turbulence Gk ¼ bg i Pr t t @x
.
As mentioned above, the selection of turbulence model should i j i

be seriously considered for precisely simulating complex heat For v2f model, two other equations for v2 and f are needed:
transfer of sCO2. Table 1 suggests that the SST k-x model have  


 
been validated and frequently used for sCO2 flowing with relative @ qui v 2 =@xi ¼ @=@xj l þ lt =rk
@ v 2 =@xj þ qkf  6qv 2 e=k
high mass flux (G > 300 kg/m2
s) in large tubes (d > 10 mm), hence
the SST k-x model was adopted for simulations of cases with ð11Þ
G = 400 kg/m2
s in this study. The transport equations of k and x
are given as:

Fig. 3. Computational domains and mesh system with near-wall refinement.

Table 2
Results of grid dependence work.

Mesh Axial nodes number Circumferential nodes number Total cell number Relative deviation of Tw against Mesh 4
1 33 76 3,154,200 3.32%
2 43 80 4,266,400 1.24%
3 55 96 6,435,500 0.14%
4 67 108 8,586,400 0%

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 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

   
L2
@=@xi ð@f =@xi Þ  f ¼ ðC 1  1Þ v 2 =k  2=3 = f l k =ev 2
2 model in reproducing the more drastic buoyancy effect at much
higher q.
 C 2 Pk =qk  5ev 2 2 =f l k
3
ð12Þ In summary, the v2f model and SST k-x model can better pre-
dict the different heat transfer behaviors of sCO2 with different
The constants and damping terms of turbulence models can be
mass fluxes in most cases and will be used for following analysis.
found in [17,27,43,44].
Fig. 4(a) displays the comparison of predicted Tw by different
3. Results and discussion
turbulence models against the test data with low mass flux
(G = 100 kg/m2
s, q = 30 kW/m2). It displays that most models over-
3.1. Analysis approach to heat transfer of sCO2
rate the Tw before hpc but under-predict it when after hpc. The YS
model predicts Tw well in high hb region but has a large deviation
As is known, the particular heat transfer of SCFs are mainly
in low hb region, where special HTE occurs with lower Tw. Com-
induced by sharply varying fluid properties. Buoyancy and thermal
pared to other models, the prediction of v2f model agrees best with
acceleration effects are generated from density gradients and fur-
the experimental data over the whole hb region. Fig. 4(b) compares
ther affect heat transfer via distorting flow and turbulence fields.
the predicted Tw with experimental results at other heat fluxes. It
In fact, for turbulent flow, the boundary layer can be divided
shows that the v2f model can also accurately capture the Tw trends
into three regions from the wall to core successively: viscous
with various q from 10 to 30 kW/m2.
sub-layer, buffer layer and logarithmic-law layer. In viscous sub-
Fig. 4(c) validates the SST k-x model applied for cases with rel-
layer, flow is mostly laminar due to large viscous effect, and heat
ative high mass flux (G = 400 kg/m2
s). The predicted Tw curves
transfer is dominated by heat conduction. In logarithmic-law layer,
show a good agreement with the measured ones with q from 20
flow and heat transfer are usually governed by turbulence, while
to 50 kW/m2, but a much overpredicted Tw peak is obtained when
the heat conduction and turbulence convection in buffer layer
q = 75 kW/m2. This may be induced by the failure of conventional
may have comparable effects on heat transfer. However, most

(a) Comparisons of predicted Tw via different turbulence models for low mass flux case.

(b) Validations of v2f model for G = 100 kg/m2·s (c) Validations of SST k- for G = 400 kg/m2·s
Fig. 4. Validations of turbulence models against different experimental cases.

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6 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

studies only concerned the turbulence effect but neglected the heat Table 3
conduction process, which also had a considerable effect on heat Operating parameters and settings of simulated cases.

transfer of SCFs [45]. Therefore, a novel analysis approach is pro- Case P (MPa) G (kg/m2
s) q (kW/m2) g (m/s2)
posed in this study by treating overall heat transfer of SCFs as a 1 7.5 100 10 9.8
coupling of three processes: heat conduction of boundary layer, 2 7.5 100 20 9.8
pseudo-phase-change heat transfer of large cp fluid, and convective 3 7.5 100 30 9.8
heat transfer of turbulence core. 4 7.5 400 20 9.8
5 7.5 400 30 9.8
The processes of sharply varying properties impacting heat 6 7.5 400 50 9.8
transfer of SCFs through above three ways are displayed in Fig. 5. 7 7.5 400 75 9.8
It presents that, the pseudo-phase-change effect is determined by
the distribution of fluid cp. The heat conduction process is mostly
influenced by the thermal resistance (R = d/k) of boundary layer
(especially the sub and buffer layers). The effect of turbulence con-
vection is usually reflected by the turbulent kinetic energy (k) of
main flow. The d and k are mainly influenced by fluid viscosity
(l) and velocity gradient (du/dy) through viscous shear stress
and turbulent shear stress, respectively, and du/dy is mostly con-
trolled by the buoyancy and thermal acceleration effects generated
from sharp density gradient.
Thus, the mechanisms of different heat transfer phenomena of
sCO2 were discussed by considering all above three heat transfer
processes. The cases simulated in this study are listed in Table 3.
The boundaries among three layers depend on local parameters
and fluid properties, and are usually defined as an approximate y+
[46]. According to Bazargan et al. [47] and Hiroaki et al. [48], the
ranges of viscous sub-layer (y+ < 12.26), buffer layer (12.26  y+
h6 0) and logarithmic-law layer (60  y+ < 300) are adopted for
sCO2 in this study. Then, the thickness of viscous sub-layer (dsub)
and buffer layer (dbuf) are determined by y+ = 12.26 and 60 and
can be calculated as follows.

yþ ¼ qyus =l; dsub ¼ 12:26l=qus ; dbuf ¼ 60l=qus  dsub ð13Þ Fig. 6. Variations of calculated C versus hb at different q with low mass flux.

Due to d  d/2, the thermal resistance of cylindrical wall can be determined as enhancement and deterioration if C is larger or
approximately equivalent to a plate. Then, the thermal resistances smaller than 1.0, respectively.
of viscous sub-layer (Rsub) and buffer layer (Rbuf) per unit area in
C ¼ htcreal =htcdb ð15Þ
tube flow can be defined as:
Z Z where htcreal is the real heat transfer coefficient of sCO2 and htcdb is
dsub 60l=qus
calculated by Dittus-Boelter correlation (Nudb = 0.023Re0.8Pr0.4)
Rsub ¼ ð1=kÞ dy; Rbuf ¼ ð1=kÞ dy  Rsub ð14Þ
0 0 using properties of sCO2 at hb = 120 kJ/kg.

where y is the vertical distance to the wall, us ¼ ðsw =qÞ0:5 is the
friction velocity.
The local buoyancy force of unit mass in the radial is character-
ized by ðqb  qÞ
g=q.
A heat transfer state number C [18] defined as Eq. (15) is
introduced to reflect the heat transfer state of sCO2, which is
3.2. Analysis to heat transfer behavior of sCO2 at low mass flux
(G = 100 kg/m2
s)
Fig. 6 displays the variations of calculated C versus hb at differ-
ent q with low mass flux (G = 100 kg/m2
s). It displays that heat
transfer of sCO2 is abnormally enhanced by increasing q in low

Fig. 5. Schematic of the processes of variable properties influencing heat transfer of SCFs.

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 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx 7

hb region (hb < ~270 kJ/kg), and reaches to a peak at little less than 3.2.1. Special heat transfer enhancement in low hb region (hb <
hpc followed by a HTD in high hb region. To explain the varying heat ~270 kJ/kg)
transfer behaviors, the case with q = 30 kW/m2 is analyzed as an Fig. 7 displays the radial distributions of fluid temperature,
example. velocity, properties, and turbulence parameters at various hb with

(a) The ratio of T to Tpc (b) Density

(c) Buoyancy effect (d) The ratio of u to u0

(e) Radial gradient of axial velocity (f) Total shear stress

Fig. 7. Radial distributions of various parameters at different hb in case of P = 7.5 MPa, G = 100 kg/m2
s, q = 30 kW/m2.

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8 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

P = 7.5 MPa, G = 100 kg/m2
s, q = 30 kW/m2. It indicates that, with
the increase of heated fluid hb, the near-wall fluid temperature first
exceeds Tpc. The near-wall fluid density decreases rapidly and a
large density gradient generated in viscous sub-layer (Fig. 7(b)).
As shown in Fig. 7(c), increasing buoyancy force is induced by
the abrupt radial density gradient in the near-wall region (y+ <
~60) and reaches to maximum at hb  237 kJ/kg, where unique
HTE occurs. This means that the buoyancy effect may has a strong
relevance with the special HTE phenomenon of sCO2 occurred in
low hb region with low mass flux.
Fig. 7(d) and (e) show the radial distributions of axial velocity
and its gradients. It is seen that, as increasing buoyancy drives in
low hb region, near-wall fluid apparently accelerates and forms a
distorted ‘‘M-shape” distribution, which causes a forward and
backward increasing velocity gradient (du/dy) within the near-
wall region and turbulence core, respectively. Fig. 7(f) gives the
radial distribution of total shear stress. In near-wall region, viscous
shear stress (sv) is ascendant due to laminar effect, but in the exter-
nal flow, turbulent shear stress (st) is dominant. It can be seen from
Fig. 7(f), in low hb region, due to the increasing du/dy, shear stres-
ses in both near-wall region (sv) and the turbulence core (st) are
enhanced.
Fig. 8(a) and (b) further display the radial distributions of fluid
viscosity (l) and thermal conductivity (k), and the variations of
thermal resistance and thickness of viscous sub-layer and buffer
layer are also drawn in Fig. 9(a) and (b). It can be seen that, with
near-wall fluid temperature exceeding Tpc, fluid viscosities of both
sub-layer and buffer layer drop rapidly, and the decreasing viscos-
ity coupling with increasing viscous shear stress cause viscous sub-
layer and buffer layer thinner significantly. Meanwhile, the large k
fluid begins moving away from the wall but still within the viscous
sub-layer. The the reducing degree of fluid k is less than that of the
thickness dsub and dbuf. Then Rsub and Rbuf decrease in low hb region,
and the heat conduction process of boundary layer is enhanced.
To discuss the effects of pseudo-phase-change and turbulence,
the distributions of turbulent kinetic energy (k) and specific heat
(cp) are displayed in Fig. 10(a) and (b). It shows that, due to the
increasing turbulent shear stress, the k in turbulence region is

(a) Viscosity (b) Thermal conductivity

Fig. 8. Radial distributions of fluid viscosity and thermal conductivity at different hb in case of P = 7.5 MPa, G = 100 kg/m2
s, q = 30 kW/m2.

(a) Viscous sub-layer (b) Buffer layer

Fig. 9. Variations of thickness and thermal resistance of viscous sub-layer and buffer layer versus hb at low mass flux.

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 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx 9

(a) Turbulent kinetic energy (b) Specific heat

Fig. 10. Radial distributions of turbulent kinetic energy and specific heat at different hb in case of P = 7.5 MPa, G = 100 kg/m2
s, q = 30 kW/m2.

(a) Buoyancy effect (b) Total shear stress

(c) sub and Rsub (d) Turbulent kinetic energy

Fig. 11. Variations of thermal and flow parameters versus q at P = 7.5 MPa, G = 100 kg/m2
s.

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944
10 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx
increasing and has a positive effect on heat transfer of sCO2. The
large cp fluid always lies in viscous sub-layer and is only a small
part of all fluid, meaning that the enhanced effect of large cp fluid
on heat transfer is limited when fluid is in low hb region.
Fig. 11 further displays the variations of thermal and flow
parameters versus q in low hb region (hb  220 kJ/kg), where
HTE occurs with rising heat flux. It clearly shows that, with the
increase of q, buoyancy effect of near-wall fluid is greatly
strengthened because of larger density gradient, and the shear
stresses in both viscous sub-layer (representing sv) and turbu-
lence core (representing st) are enhanced. From Fig. 11(c) and
(d), it can be seen that, under the action of increasing sv, the
thickness of viscous sub-layer dsub is thinned and Rsub decreases
with the increase in q. The k is also increased with rising q due
to larger st. Therefore, when mass flux is lower, with the increase
of q, the processes of both heat conduction and turbulent convec-
tive heat transfer are enhanced by strong buoyancy force, then
heat transfer of sCO2 is improved and the special HTE occurs in
low hb region.
3.2.2. htc peak around the hpc
As hb continuously increases to about 295.35 kJ/kg, where heat
transfer is further enhanced to peak, the sub-layer fluid tempera-
ture has completely exceeded Tpc, and the location of most dra-
matic property variation moves from viscous sub-layer to buffer
layer (Fig. 7(a)). The variation of density becomes smooth in vis-
cous sub-layer but abrupt in buffer layer (Fig. 7(b)), then buoyance
force and du/dy begins to weak in sub-layer while keeps rising in
buffer layer, causing a decreasing sv and an increasing st, as shown
in Fig. 7(c), (e) and (f).
Figs. 8(a) and 9 display that, as hb increasing from 237 to
295.35 kJ/kg, fluid l in viscous sub-layer decreases little, so the
decreasing sv makes a slight increase in dsub. The dbuf continu-
ously decreases due to the decrease of fluid l in buffer layer.
However, as shown in Figs. 8(b) and 10(b), with fluid
temperature increasing, large k and cp fluid shifts from viscous
sub-layer to buffer layer. Fluid k and cp dramatically reduce in
viscous sub-layer but largely increase in buffer layer, then the
Rsub rises from about 7.0 to 10.0 m2
K/W but Rbuf declines from
17.2 to the minimum about 8.0 m2
K/W. The total thermal resis-
tance of boundary layer (mainly contains Rsub and Rbuf) declines.
The capacities of both heat conduction and heat absorption
(pseudo-phase-change effect of larger cp fluid) are significantly
enhanced in buffer layer, which plays a bridge for heat and
momentum transferring from near-wall region to main flow
between viscous sub-layer and turbulence core [40,47]. Mean-
while, Fig. 10(a) displays that the enhanced effect of turbulent
convection on heat transfer is also improved by the increasing
st and k. As a result, heat transfer of sCO2 is greatly enhanced
to the most (htc peak).
3.2.3. HTD in high hb region
When hb keeps increasing to high hb region (exceed hpc), all fluid
changes to low-density fluid, and the buoyancy effect is dimin-
ished due to smaller density gradient (Fig. 7(c)). As shown in Figs. 7
(f) and 8–10, the sv in viscous sub-layer decreases, leading to an
increase in dsub. More importantly, due to Tw and Tb larger than
Tpc, both k and cp of near-wall fluid drop to much lower value,
and the thermal resistance of boundary layer (Rsub and Rbuf)
increases obviously. Though the k of main flow keeps increasing
due to the thermal acceleration effect, the near-wall region is com-
pletely occupied by the fluid with poor heat conduction (high R)
and heat-carrying (low cp) capacities. The bridge of heat and
momentum transport is damaged. Hence, heat is hard to transfer
from near-wall region to main flow, and then HTD occurs with
rapidly rising Tw.
Please cite this article as: Q. Zhang, H. Li, J. Liu et al., Numerical investigation of different heat transfer behaviors of supercritical CO2 in a large vertical tube,
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944
Fig. 12. Variations of calculated C versus hb at different q with normal mass flux.
3.3. Analysis to heat transfer behavior of sCO2 at normal mass flux
(G = 400 kg/m2
s)
Fig. 12 displays the variations of C versus hb at different q with
normal mass flux (G = 400 kg/m2
s). Unlike cases in Fig. 6 at
G = 100 kg/m2
s, heat transfer with G = 400 kg/m2
s is deteriorated
with q increasing in low hb region, followed by a heat transfer
recovery (C > 1.0) around the hpc. To explore the difference of heat
transfer from low mass flux, the case (G = 400 kg/m2
s, q = 50 kW/
m2) is discussed.
3.3.1. HTD phenomenon in low hb region
Fig. 13 displays the radial distributions of flow parameters and
fluid properties at various hb with P = 7.5 MPa, G = 400 kg/m2
s,
q = 50 kW/m2. It indicates that, with hb increasing to about
247.8 kJ/kg (corresponding to the Tw peak of HTD), the near-wall
fluid temperature increases to larger than Tpc. The near-wall fluid
density decreases, and large density gradient induces strong buoy-
ancy effect, which reaches to the maximum at hb = 247.8 kJ/kg, as
shown in Fig. 13(c). Fig. 13(d) displays that the velocity distribu-
tion is distorted as ‘‘M-shape” from the acceleration of near-wall
fluid driven by buoyancy force, but the velocity deformation at
G = 400 kg/m2
s is more milder and flatter than that at
G = 100 kg/m2
s, due to a relative weaker buoyancy effect against
the forced convection. The vertex of ‘‘M-shape” velocity, where
du/dy is near to zero, is approximately located at buffer layer or
logarithmic layer (y+  100), leading to an increasing du/dy in vis-
cous sub-layer but a diminishing du/dy in buffer layer and logarith-
mic layer (Fig. 13(e)). This is different from the variations of du/dy
at low mass flux cases, where du/dy in both viscous sub-layer and
turbulent region are enhanced by much stronger buoyancy effect
and severely deformed velocity distribution.
Further, as shown in Fig. 16 (a) and (b), due to the diminishing
du/dy in external turbulent region, st within buffer layer and loga-
rithmic layer decline and lead to k remaining at much low level,
which impairs the turbulent convective heat transfer process and
is bad for local heat transfer. For another, as shown in Figs. 14
and 15(a), the increasing du/dy and decreasing l in viscous sub-
layer cause a little changing sv but a significant decrease in dsub.
When hb > ~200 kJ/kg, the sub-layer fluid mostly converts to
pseudo-gas fluid with much lower l, then the dsub nearly keeps
invariable after reducing to low level. However, due to the poor
turbulent heat transfer, Tw rises, and the large k and cp fluid begin
 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx 11

(a) The ratio of T to Tpc (b) Density

(c) Buoyancy effect (d) Axial velocity

(e) Radial gradient of axial velocity (f) Viscosity

Fig. 13. Radial distributions of various parameters at different hb in case of P = 7.5 MPa, G = 400 kg/m2
s, q = 50 kW/m2.

shifting from viscous sub-layer to buffer layer. The k of viscous Fig. 16(c), though large cp fluid shifts to buffer layer, due to the lit-
sub-layer falling greatly, makes Rsub strikingly increase and reach tle amount, the enhanced effect of large cp fluid on heat transfer is
to the maximum at hb = 247.8 kJ/kg, where processes of both heat limited compared to the negative effect of impaired heat conduc-
conduction and turbulent heat transfer are impaired most. From tion and turbulent convective heat transfer. Therefore, the overall

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12 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

(a) Viscous shear stress (b) Thermal conductivity

Fig. 14. Radial distributions of sv and k at different hb in case of P = 7.5 MPa, G = 400 kg/m2
s, q = 50 kW/m2.

(a) Viscous sub-layer (b) Buffer layer

Fig. 15. Variations of thickness and thermal resistance of viscous sub-layer and buffer layer versus hb at normal mass flux.

heat transfer state is impaired and HTD occurs with Tw rising to the
peak at hb = 247.8 kJ/kg.
3.3.2. Heat transfer recovery around the hpc
As hb continually increasing to about 312.8 kJ/kg, it can be seen
form Fig. 13(a)–(c), fluid temperature of viscous sub-layer exceeds
Tpc, and fluid in buffer layer and external flow is close to pseudo-
critical point. The fluid density in buffer layer decreases rapidly,
leading to buoyancy diminishing and the acceleration of main flow.
As shown in Fig. 13(d) and (e), the acceleration effect turns weak in
near-wall fluid but strong in main flow, causing the abrupt ‘‘M-
shape” velocity distribution smooth and an upswing of du/dy in
buffer layer and logarithmic layer. And then, as Fig. 16 displays,
the st and k in external layer are improved in some extent. The tur-
bulent convective heat transfer is recovered and Tw begins to
decline.
For another, Figs. 13–16 also displays that, due to the constant
mass flux and decreasing density of heated fluid, flow is overall
accelerated. The du/dy and sv in viscous sub-layer increase, and
this interacts with the decrease of l, leading to dsub and dbuf thin-
ner. Moreover, due to Tw decreasing and Tb increasing, fluid k in
viscous sub-layer has a little recovery, and more fluid is close to
the pseudo-critical region. The buffer layer are almost occupied
by fluid with large k and cp. Thereby, the Rsub and Rbuf significantly
decline and the heat conduction process of sCO2 near the wall is
greatly improved. Meanwhile, the heat-carrying capacity of the
bridge (buffer layer) between viscous sub-layer and main flow is
also promoted by large cp fluid. As a result, all three processes of
heat conduction, turbulent convection and pseudo-phase-change
effect are improved, and heat transfer is recovered from HTD to
HTE. Combined with the discussion in Section 3.2, it presents that
the reason of heat transfer recovery in HTD case with normal mass
flux is exactly similar to that of the htc peak in low mass case.
3.3.3. The second HTD in high hb region
When hb increases to larger than hpc (~337 kJ/kg), all fluids at
cross-section have changed to pseudo-gas state. As shown in
Figs. 13–16, fluid thermal properties (contain q, k, l and cp)

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944
 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx 13

(a) Turbulent shear stress (b) Turbulent kinetic energy

(c) Specific heat

Fig. 16. Radial distributions of turbulent parameters and specific heat at different hb in case of P = 7.5 MPa, G = 400 kg/m2
s, q = 50 kW/m2.

decrease to low value. The dsub and dbuf decrease and tend to con-
stant. But the Rsub and Rbuf turn to increase rapidly because near-
wall region (especially the viscous sub-layer and buffer layer) are
completely filled by low k and cp fluid, and then the capacities of
heat conduction and heat-absorption in near-wall region are sig-
nificantly aggravated.
At this point, though the st and k in turbulence region drasti-
cally increases due to the pronounced acceleration effect of main
flow, the bridge of heat exchange between near-wall region and
core flow is insulated by low k and cp fluid. The heat transfer from
the wall to turbulence core is difficult. As a result, as shown in
Figs. 4(c) and 12, Tw goes up and heat transfer of sCO2 is deterio-
rated in high hb region once again. From the above analysis, it is
concluded that, the mechanism of the second HTD at normal mass
flux cases is the same as that of the HTD occurred in high hb region
with low mass flux.
3.4. Relationship between heat conduction process of boundary layer
and local heat transfer characteristic
As mentioned above, during discussion on heat transfer of SCFs,
most previous studies only focused on the turbulence factor and
agreed that the upturn and downturn of k were responsible for
the enhancement and impairment of heat transfer. However, in
the present study, a noteworthy phenomenon from Figs. 4, 9 and
15 shows that, for G = 400 kg/m2
s case, with Rsub increasing and
dropping, Tw rises to the peak followed by a decline, indicating that
the thermal-conduction resistance of boundary layer may be clo-
sely related with the Tw curve, but this was mostly neglected in
the past.
To explore the relationship between heat conduction process
and local heat transfer characteristic of sCO2, the total thermal-
conduction resistance of boundary layer (Rtotal) is introduced.
Due to that in buffer layer, the effects of conduction and convection
on heat transfer is comparable, so the heat conduction effect of
buffer layer on overall heat transfer is approximatively expressed
by the half of Rbuf. Then, the Rtotal can be defined as Rtotal = Rsub +
(Rbuf/2), and the inverse of Rtotal (1/Rtotal) represents the heat trans-
fer capacity via conduction among overall heat transfer process.
Fig. 17 displays the relevance between overall heat transfer
coefficient and 1/Rtotal at different cases. It clearly shows that, for
both low mass flux cases (G = 100 kg/m2
s) and normal mass flux
cases (G = 400 kg/m2
s), when 1/Rtotal increases to the maximum
(Rtotal drops to minimum), the overall htc of sCO2 almost simulta-
neously rises to the peak, while when 1/Rtotal decreases, the overall
htc is declining. The htc peak and valley, where heat transfer is best

Please cite this article as: Q. Zhang, H. Li, J. Liu et al., Numerical investigation of different heat transfer behaviors of supercritical CO2 in a large vertical tube,
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14 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx

(a) Low mass flux, Case 1 (b) Low mass flux, Case 2

(c) Low mass flux, Case 3 (d) Normal mass flux, Case 4

(e) Normal mass flux, Case 5 (f) Normal mass flux, Case 6
Fig. 17. The variations of htc and 1/Rtotal versus hb at different mass flux conditions.

and worst, are well corresponding to the decrease and increase of
Rtotal. Moreover, it also can be seen that, with high q/G, the rele-
vance between htc and 1/Rtotal at low mass flux are more consistent
than normal mass flux cases. It can be concluded that, the variation
of Rtotal has a strong relevance with the overall heat transfer and
can significantly dominate it. The evolution of heat transfer behav-
iors of sCO2 is highly dependent on the heat conduction process of
boundary layer, especially under low mass flux conditions, how-
ever, which is seldom noticed in former studies. This would be
helpful for more thoroughly understanding the mechanisms of
sCO2 complex heat transfer behaviors, and provides a feasible path
for improving the accuracy of heat transfer predictive models by
correlating the heat conduction of boundary layer of SCFs.
4. Conclusions
As a continuity of our experiments, numerical works are per-
formed to explore the mechanisms behind different heat transfer

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 Q. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer xxx (xxxx) xxx
behaviors of sCO2 occurred at varying mass flux conditions. Follow-
ing conclusions are obtained:
(1) Compared with the turbulence models of SST k-x, RNG k-e,
Standard k-e, Realizable k-e, AKN and YS, the v2f model is
more better to predict heat transfer behaviors of sCO2 at
low mass flux (G = 100 kg/m2
s). For normal mass flux cases
with large tubes (G = 400 kg/m2
s), SST k-x model is recom-
mended and can well capture the heat transfer deterioration
and recovery but seriously over-predicts the Tw peak when q
is much higher.
(2) By treating the overall heat transfer of SCFs as a coupling of
three processes: heat conduction of boundary layer, pseudo-
phase-change heat transfer of large cp fluid, and convective
heat transfer of turbulence core, a new analysis approach
is proposed to thoroughly understand the heat transfer
behaviors of sCO2.
(3) In low hb region, the special HTE at low mass flux cases is
mainly induced by the strong buoyancy effect, which
enhances the processes of both heat conduction and turbu-
lence convection by reducing dsub and promoting k. But rel-
ative weak buoyancy effect suppressing k and the shift of
large k fluid from viscous sub-layer to buffer layer causing
increasing thermal-conduction resistance are the main rea-
son of HTD occurring at normal mass flux.
(4) The buffer layer plays a bridge for heat transferring from
near-wall region to main flow between viscous sub-layer
and turbulence core. When hb is close to hpc, buffer layer is
mostly occupied by large cp and k fluid. The capacities of
both heat conduction and pseudo-phase-change heat
absorption are greatly enhanced, and this is the reason for
HTE occurring in near hpc region. But in high hb region, near
wall region is completely occupied by low cp and k fluid. The
processes of both heat conduction and pseudo-phase-
change heat transfer are sharply weakened. The heat
exchange bridge between the wall and main flow is broken,
and then heat is difficult to transfer from near-wall region to
the strong turbulence core. This causes the HTD of sCO2 in
high hb region.
(5) The variation of 1/Rtotal versus hb is highly consistent with
the overall htc trends of sCO2. The heat conduction process
of boundary layer has a strong relevance with the evolution
of heat transfer behaviors of sCO2. This would be helpful for
deep-understanding the mechanisms of sCO2 complex heat
transfer behaviors and developing more precise heat trans-
fer predictive models of SCFs by considering the heat con-
duction effect of boundary layer in further research.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by the National Basic Research Pro-
gram of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2015CB251502) and the
National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China
(Grant No. 51506170).
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Please cite this article as: Q. Zhang, H. Li, J. Liu et al., Numerical investigation of different heat transfer behaviors of supercritical CO2 in a large vertical tube,
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118944