Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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

Development of a dimensionless rod-bundle CHF correlation based on

stepwise regression method, Part I: determination of the basic form with
CHF data obtained with uniform axial heat flux profile
Bo Pang a,b, Yuan Yin a,b,⇑
a
Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University (SZU), Nanhai Avenue 3688, 518060 Shenzhen, PR China
b
Institute of Nuclear Power Operation Safety Technology, affiliated to the National Energy R & D Center on Nuclear Power Operation and Life Management, Shenzhen, PR China

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

Article history: Accurate prediction of rod-bundle critical heat flux (CHF) is a main challenge in thermal-hydraulic design
Received 19 March 2019 and safety assessment of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). The most widely applied approach is empir-
Received in revised form 12 February 2020 ical correlation developed based on rod-bundle experiments carefully tested with geometry and power
Accepted 5 March 2020
distribution representative to PWR working conditions. The standard procedure is to correlate the exper-
imentally obtained CHF values as empirical functions of local thermal-hydraulic conditions obtained with
subchannel analysis. However, up-to-date empirical correlations developed according to this manner are
Keywords:
in general quite complicated with a number of dimensional coefficients and correction factors with less
Dimensionless rod-bundle CHF correlation
Stepwise regression
or non-physical meanings. In this study, stepwise regression method was used to develop a novel, dimen-
sionless rod-bundle CHF correlation covering typical PWR working conditions. First, various dimension-
less parameters affecting CHF were selected as candidate independent variables. With stepwise
regression, the form and coefficients of the proposed CHF correlation were dynamically optimized and
determined.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Subcooled or low-quality forced nucleate boiling is utilized in
the PWR reactor design mainly due to its simultaneous high heat
flux and high heat transfer coefficient. However, the nucleate boil-
ing heat flux is limited by the so-called critical heat flux (CHF),
which is defined as the heat flux occurring just before a change
of boiling heat transfer mode (boiling crisis) (Tong and Hewitt,
1972). The mechanism leading to the change of the boiling heat
transfer model depends on the flow patterns (Tong and Hewitt,
1972; Cheng and Müller, 2003). In the high-quality boiling region,
mostly where annular flow exists, the boiling crisis originates from
depletion of the thin liquid film (dryout). In the subcooled or low-
quality boiling region, where bubbly or slug flow regime prevail,
immediately after CHF has been reached, a transition of the boiling
mode from nucleate boiling to film boiling occurs. This phe-
nomenon is hence also termed as departure from nucleate boiling
(DNB), which is normally associated with a severe deterioration of
⇑ Corresponding author at:Department of Nuclear Science and Technology,
College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University (SZU),
Nanhai Avenue 3688, 518060 Shenzhen, PR China.
E-mail addresses: bo.pang@szu.edu.cn (B. Pang), yinyuan@szu.edu.cn (Y. Yin).
the heat transfer ability. In a system where the heat flux is con-
trolled, e.g. nuclear reactors, a rapid excursion of the heated wall,
i.e. the fuel rod cladding temperature will take place, which might
endanger the fuel rod integrity (Cheng, 2005). Consequently, criti-
cal heat flux is one of the parameters that limit the maximum
power at which nuclear reactor can operate. Therefore, an accurate
prediction of CHF is a subject of vital importance for thermal
hydraulic design and safety assessment of a PWR reactor.
Despite of continuous progress in developing theoretical predic-
tive approaches, there are currently no fully verified analytical
methods for the prediction of CHF in rod bundles. Therefore,
state-of-the-art reactor design still relies mainly on empirical
CHF correlations, which were carefully tested with experimental
CHF data obtained under flow conditions representative to PWR
operation conditions (Tong and Weisman, 1996). The standard pro-
cedure is to relate the measured CHF values with the local rod-
bundle flow conditions at CHF location. Since measurement of
the local flow conditions at CHF location is practically impossible,
a subchannel analysis is hence required to analytically determine
these conditions, i.e. axial and radial mass flow rate and enthalpy
distribution in the rod bundle. Consequently, CHF correlations
developed in this manner must be used only with local flow data
provided by the same subchannel analysis code when developing

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107454
0306-4549/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454
the correlation. More importantly, most of the rod-bundle CHF cor-
relations currently available in open literature, represented by the
W-3 correlation (Tong and Weisman, 1996) and the EPRI correla-
tion (Reddy and Fighetti, 1982a), have complex, non-linear mathe-
matical forms with a number of dimensional coefficients and
correction factors with less or non-physical meanings.
In our previous studies (Yin et al., 2018; Pang et al., 2019), step-
wise regression method was successfully employed to develop a
PWR rod-bundle CHF correlation applicable for low pressure con-
ditions (2–10 MPa). The stepwise regression method is proven to
be a useful tool to develop CHF correlation with simplified form
and simultaneously high prediction accuracy. In the current study,
stepwise regression method was applied to develop a new rod-
bundle CHF correlation covering the typical PWR working condi-
tions (10–16 MPa). Differing to the correlations current available
in open literature, represented by the Westinghouse W-3 correla-
tion (Tong and Weisman, 1996) and the EPRI correlation (Reddy
and Fighetti, 1982a), the rod-bundle CHF correlation developed
in the current study consists of only dimensionless parameters,
which characterize the local two-phase flow conditions in rod bun-
dle with subchannel averaged flow parameters that are calculated
with a subchannel analysis code.
The local flow conditions in a PWR fuel rod bundle depends
strongly on the effect of the lateral flow mixing between adjacent
subchannels (Pang and Cheng, 2017) as well as on the effect of
radial heat flux distribution. The lateral interchannel mixing is con-
sidered as constitutive closure models in subchannel analysis code,
while the effect of the radial power gradient is also inherently eval-
uated by the subchannel analysis. In a PWR fuel assembly, guide
tubes with unheated cold wall can also affect the CHF behavior.
It is normally agreed that the presence of an unheated rod leads
to a decrease of the CHF value (Tong and Tang, 1997). More impor-
tantly, the non-uniform axial heat flux profile plays also an impor-
tant role when predicting the bundle CHF values (Rosal et al.,
1974). Therefore, a three-step methodology was proposed to
develop a rod-bundle CHF correlation applicable to PWR working
condition.

Step I: determination the basic form of the CHF correlation
based on experimental rod-bundle CHF data with uniform axial
heat flux profile and without unheated guide tubes.

Step II: the cold wall effect of the unheated guide tube will be
captured with an additional term to the basic form developed
in Step I, which will be obtained based on experimental CHF
data with uniform axial heat flux profile but with an unheated
rod in the bundle simulating the guide tube.

Step III: similarly, the effect of the non-uniform axial heat flux
profile will be described also with an additional term, which
is determined with CHF data with a non-uniform axial heat flux
shape but without unheated guide tube.
In the above methodology, the effect of the unheated guide tube
and the effect of the non-uniform heat flux profile will be studied
in separated manner. However, in the actual fuel assembly design
the effect of cold wall effect (due to unheated guide tube) and non-
uniform axial heat flux profile coexist and might interact with each
other in a coupled manner. Assessment of the coupled effect
should be performed with test cases in which the effect of cold wall
and non-uniform axial heat flux profile coexist. This part will be
performed in the continuous study. The current paper describes
the development work of Step I, which lays the fundamental
framework of developing a dimensionless rod-bundle CHF correla-
tion with stepwise regression method. Selected rod-bundle CHF
data obtained at the Heat Transfer Research Facility (HTRF) of the
Columbia University and published by the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) (Reddy and Fighetti, 1982b), were used as
experimental data bank. The local thermal-hydraulic parameters
at CHF location were calculated in this study with the subchannel
analysis code COBRA-IV-I (Stewart et al., 1977). In order to build up
the independent variables of the CHF correlation, dimensionless
thermal-hydraulic flow parameters with rigid physical meanings
which might affect the occurrence of departure form nucleate boil-
ing in the convective two-phase boiling flow were selected. Fur-
thermore, dimensionless parameters that have been used in
literature for studying the two-phase flow boiling behavior were
also preferred.
2. Basic idea of the stepwise regression and the initial set of
candidate independent variables
The specific steps and approaches of using stepwise regression
method to develop a CHF correlation have been described in detail
in previous studies (Yin et al., 2018; Pang et al., 2019), hence here
only the essential idea was briefly summarized. Stepwise regres-
sion is a mathematic approach of fitting regression models in
which the introduction of candidate independent variables into
the regression model is carried out one by one in a dynamic man-
ner (Draper and Smith, 1981). After each step in which a variable is
added to the regression model, all the existing variables in the
model will be verified to check whether their significance has been
reduced below a pre-specified tolerance level. If it is the case, this
so-called non-significant variable will be eliminated from the
regression model. This process will be performed iteratively until
neither independent variable is included in the regression equation
nor is independent variable excluded from the regression equation,
so that an optimal final set of independent variables with corre-
sponding fitting coefficients can be established. The characteristic
advantage of the stepwise regression method lies in the filtering
of the independent variables in a dynamic manner, so that the
collinearity problem can be largely prevented. Prior to discuss
the initial set of candidate independent variables, a dimensionless
boiling number (Bo) was built according to:
q00CHF
Bo ¼ ð1Þ
hfg G
In this dimensionless number, the critical heat flux (q00CHF ) is
non-dimensionalized with the mass velocity G in subchannel
where CHF occurs and the enthalpy of vaporization hfg . The boiling
number Bo can be used in empirical treatment of flow boiling
because it combines two important flow parameters, q00CHF and G,
for instance in the generalized correlation of critical heat flux in
tubes by Katto and Ohno (1984). In the current study, it was also
used as the dependent dimensionless variable for correlating the
critical heat flux q00CHF .
In order to develop a CHF correlation with the stepwise regres-
sion method, an appropriate initial set of candidate independent
variables must first be chosen. However, in a PWR rod bundle,
the physical mechanisms leading to the occurrence of the depar-
ture from nucleate boiling is still confusing due to the limited pos-
sibilities of measuring the two-phase flow behaviors in the near
wall region at high heat flux when approaching CHF (Tong and
Hewitt, 1972). Consequently, majorities of the proposed CHF
mechanisms are of postulation nature and are not fully verified
through direct observations (Tong and Tang, 1997). The best suc-
cesses were obtained with the near wall bubble coalescence model
(Weismann and Pei, 1983) and the liquid sublayer dryout model
(Lee and Mudawar, 1988). Accordingly, the process leading to the
onset of DNB phenomenon on a heated surface could be summa-
rized as the following: during subcooled or low-quality boiling,
the bubbly layers builds up along the channel until it fills the
region near the wall where the convective flow is unable to
 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454
transport bubbles rapidly. As a consequence, small bubbles begin
to merge and finally a vapor blanket is formed due to the bubble
coalescence, and a very thin liquid sublayer is trapped under the
vapor blanket. Under very high heat flux as typically present in a
PWR reactor core, this thin liquid sublayer will be rapidly evapo-
rated and a transition from nucleate boiling to film boiling occurs.
The near wall bubble coalescence model focuses mainly just before
the formation of the vapor blanket, once a critical bubble coales-
cence level has been reached, it is assumed that DNB occurs, while
the liquid sublayer dryout model assumes that DNB occurs just
after the vapor blanket is built. As point out by Tong and
Weisman (1996), both models show good accuracy in predicting
round tube DNB data, since the point of bubble coalescence and
the point of liquid sublayer dryout are quite close to each other.
Either way, in both phenomenological models, bubble generation
and bubble transport in the two-phase flow field of the rod bundle
are the critical factors that might trigger the occurrence of DNB and
hence affect CHF, i.e. if the generation of bubbles at the heated rod
surface is so intense that the bubbles cannot be effectively trans-
ported away by the convective flow, DNB might occur.
Furthermore, in a PWR rod bundle, grid spacers are fixed
through-out the entire heated core length with the basic purpose
of maintaining relative position between rods (rod-to-rod clear-
ance). The presence of grid spacers increases the local flow resis-
tance (pressure drop). More importantly, grid spacers in a rod
bundle, especially those with mixing vanes, promote the local tur-
bulence level and interchannel mixing by effectively diverting flow
from hot subchannels to cold subchannels and vice versa, thus
reducing the flow and enthalpy imbalance between subchannels.
They also peel off the bubble layers created on the heated rod sur-
face to certain degree. The combined effect of the above two
actions leads to an increase of the CHF values just downstream
of a grid spacer.
Based on the above discussion, the initial set of candidate inde-
pendent variables of the CHF correlation can be categorized into
three groups in the current study:

Group I: local thermal-hydraulic flow parameters that might
affect the bubble generation and bubble transport in a convec-
tive boiling two-phase flow. In order to enhance the physical
interpretability of the CHF correlation, dimensionless parame-
ters with rigid physical meanings were preferred. Furthermore,
established dimensionless parameters that have been used in
literature for studying the two-phase boiling behavior were also
considered. In the current study, the following dimensionless
parameters were selected:
– The Lockhart-Martinelli parameter for turbulent-turbulent
flow Xtt defined as:

0:9 !0:5 !0:1
1x qg lf
Xtt ¼ ð2Þ
x qf lg
in which the subchannel steam quality x is inherently included.
qg and qf stand for the density of steam and liquid water,
respectively. lg and lf are then the respective dynamic viscosity
of steam and liquid water. Lockhart-Martinelli parameter Xtt is a
classic dimensionless parameter in two-phase flow study and is
used for instance by Chen (1966) for developing empirical corre-
lation for heat transfer coefficient in convective nucleate boiling
flow.
– the Eötvös number Eo:
 
g ql  qg D2hyd
Eo ¼ ð3Þ
r
3
where g stands for the gravitational acceleration and r stands
for the surface tension. Eötvös number Eo represents the ratio
of gravitational (buoyancy) force scaler, represented by the term
gðql  qg Þ) and capillary force scales (represented by r). Similar
to a tube flow, the length scale used in its definition is the
hydraulic diameter of the subchannel Dhyd .
– and the Morton number Mo:
 
g ql  qg l4f
Mo ¼ ð4Þ
q2f r3
The Morton number Mo is used together with the Eötvös num-
ber Eo to characterize the shape of bubbles or drops moving in a
surrounding fluid or continuous phase. Therefore, the dynamic
viscosity lf and density qf of the liquid water are used in its
definition.
– the liquid Froude number Fr,
G2
Fr ¼ ð5Þ
g q2l Dhyd
The liquid Froude number Fr represents a measure of inertial
forces and gravitational forces. Similar to the situation in a tube,
the hydraulic diameter Dhyd of the subchannel is chosen as
length scale in its definition.– the Jacob number Ja:
cp;f DT
Ja ¼ ð6Þ
hfg
where cp;f stands for the specific heat capacity of the liquid
water. In the current study, the temperature difference DT was
defined as the difference between the fuel rod cladding temper-
ature and the saturation temperature at local pressure level.
Jacob number Ja represents the ratio of the sensible heat for a
given volume of liquid to heat or cool through the temperature
difference DT in arriving to its saturation temperature (repre-
sented by the term cp;f DT), to the latent heat required in evapo-
rating the same volume of vapor (represented by the enthalpy of
vaporization hfg ).
– the Reynolds number Re and
GDhyd
Re ¼ ð7Þ
lf
where G is the mass velocity of the two-phase flow in subchan-
nel. Similar to a tube flow, hydraulic diameter of the subchannel
Dhyd was chosen as the characteristic length. Furthermore, since
the two-phase flow in the low-quality boiling range is still dom-
inated by the liquid phase, the dynamic viscosity of liquid water
lf was also chose when defining the Reynolds number.
– the Weber number We
G2 Dhyd
We ¼ ð8Þ
rqf
which is the ratio of the fluid inertia force to the surface tension
force. Similar to the definition of Re, the density of liquid water
qf was used in We, since the liquid phase still dominates the
two-phase flow in the range of low-quality boiling.

Group II: characteristic parameters accounting for the effect of
the grid spacers. In the current version of the COBRA-IV-I sub-
channel code, the presence of grid spacers is described only
by an axial local pressure loss coefficient accounting for the
increase of the local flow resistance (Stewart et al., 1977). The
variation of the local flow conditions in subchannel down-
stream of a grid spacer due to enhanced interchannel mixing
and peeling off the bubble layers is not properly represented.
Consequently, dimensionless parameters characterizing the
4 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454

effect of the grid spacers must also be included in the CHF cor-
relation. It is generally believed that the effect of the grid spacer
decreases rapidly as the flow goes downstream and away from
the grid (Rosal et al., 1974). Therefore, the distance of the CHF
location to the last grid spacer upstream (term as dg ), as well
as the distance between two neighboring grid spacers (termed
as g sp ) were chosen in this study. The hydraulic diameter of
the subchannel at CHF location (termed as Dhyd ) was used as ref-
erence length, in order to build up the dimensionless distance
dg =Dhyd and g sp =Dhyd .

Group III: ratios of physical properties of liquid water and steam
at saturation temperature, which accounts mainly for the effect
of pressure on CHF. In the current study, the ratio of liquid vis-
cosity to vapor viscosity lf =lg and the ratio of liquid density to
vapor density qf =qg were considered.
Table 1 summarizes then the initial set of independent variables
and their respective relevance to the CHF in rod bundle based on
the above discussion. The final choice of the independent variables
was decided with stepwise regression, which will be discussed in
the subsequent section. All the local flow parameters at subchannel
where CHF occurs were calculated with subchannel analysis,
which will be also be discussed in the subsequent section.
3. Development of CHF correlation and results evaluation
3.1. Rod-bundle CHF data with axially uniform heat flux profile
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) published more
than 11000 CHF data obtained with 235 test section configurations
covering a wide range of both BWR and PWR working conditions at
the Heat Transfer Research Facility (HTRF) at Columbia University
over a period of approximately 20 years (Reddy and Fighetti,
1982b). These CHF test data includes test section inlet mass veloc-
ity, inlet temperature, outlet pressure (reference pressure), average
heat flux, CHF location as well as geometrical specification, radial
and axial heat flux profile, grid spacer arrangement and the corre-
sponding axial pressure loss coefficient. In this study, 5 test section
configurations of a 5  5 square rod bundle with rod outer diame-
ter of 9.5 mm and rod pitch of 12.6 mm were chosen for
development of the CHF correlation due to their geometrical close-
ness to the fuel assembly design of advanced PWRs. Table 2 sum-
marized the geometrical specifications of the test sections selected
in the current study, including the axial heated length Lh , rod outer
diameter D, rod pitch P and distance between two neighboring
spacers g sp .
Fig. 1 shows the radial geometry of the test rod bundle, in which
the numbering sequence of the 25 mock-up fuel rods is clockwise,
starting at the upper left-hand corner. In all the 5 test section con-
figurations, all the 25 mock-up rods have uniform axial heat flux
distribution, while the radial heat flux distribution is non-
uniform. The internal 9 rods, i.e. rod 17 to 25 were heated with a
relative higher heat flux than the bundle average heat flux. Also
show in the figures is the subdivision and numbering of the 36 sub-
channels used in subchannel analysis in the current study. On each
of the mock-up rod, 4 CHF occurrence detecting thermal couples
were installed at the same axial elevation close to the outlet of
the bundle, with one thermal couple facing each of the 4 subchan-
nels in contact with the mock-up fuel rod. In this manner, not only
the rod number at CHF occurrence, but also the subchannel num-
ber at CHF occurrence were detected and documented.
As shown in Fig. 1, the 36 subchannels can be categorized into 2
types: matrix subchannel surrounded by 4 heated rods and periph-
eral subchannel, which is in contact to the unheated blanket wall
of the test rod bundle. Due to higher heat flux of the internal 9 rods,
majority of the CHF occurrence was detected at the matrix sub-
channel. Test cases with CHF occurrence detected at the peripheral
subchannel is not representative to PWR working conditions,
hence is not considered in correlation development in the current
study. Overall, 366 CHF test cases with uniform axial heat flux pro-
file covering the PWR working conditions were selected. Table 3
summarizes the range of the exit pressure, bundle average inlet
mass velocity and inlet equilibrium quality. Also included in Table 3
are the range of the local subchannel flow conditions at CHF occur-
rence, which were calculated with the subchannel code COBRA-IV-
I (Stewart et al., 1977). Details of the subchannel analysis will be
described in the next subsection.
3.2. Calculation of the local flow conditions at CHF occurrence with
subchannel analysis

Since it is practically impossible to measure the local thermal-

Table 1
Summary of initial set of candidate independent variables for developing a rod- hydraulic conditions in subchannels of the rod bundle at CHF loca-
bundle CHF correlation. tion, a subchannel analysis is hence required to determine the local
thermal-hydraulic conditions inside the rod bundle. In the current
Dimensionless Number Relevance to Boiling Heat Transfer or CHF in Rod
Bundle study, the sub-channel analysis code COBRA-IV-I (Stewart et al.,
1x0:9 qg 0:5  lf 0:1
1977) was used to calculate the subchannel flow parameters, i.e.
Used by Chen (1966) for correlation boiling heat
Xtt ¼ x qf lg quality, mass and enthalpy distribution. Since COBRA-IV-I code
transfer data
g ðql qg ÞD2hyd Ratio of the gravitational (buoyancy) and uses the one-fluid approach to model two-phase mixture, constitu-
Eo ¼ r capillary force scales tive relations are required to supply information on friction factors,
g ðql qg Þl4f Used with Eo to characterize the shape of
Mo ¼ quality-void relation and interchannel mixing effect. Table 4 sum-
q2f r3 bubbles moving in a continuous liquid phase
marizes the most important models used in the current study
Fr ¼ q2 gD
G 2
Ratio of the flow inertia force to the external
ð l hyd Þ gravitational field when using COBRA-IV-I code to determine the local flow condi-
Ja ¼
cp;f DT Important parameter when study the effect of tions at CHF location.
hfg
liquid superheat prior to initiation of nucleate The hydraulic resistance was calculated in the pressure drop
boiling
models, which take into account the turbulent friction with the
Re ¼ lhyd
GD Ratio of the fluid inertial forces to the viscous
f
forces
solid rod surface and the local form pressure drop due to grid spac-
G2 D Ratio of the fluid inertia force to the surface ers. The spacer pressure loss coefficient was provided in the EPRI
We ¼ rqhyd
f
tension force report (Reddy and Fighetti, 1982b), which was simply determined
dg Dimensionless distance of the CHF location to as a constant value based on measurement. The void fraction at
Dhyd
the last grid spacer upstream
g sp subcooled and saturated boiling conditions were calculated with
Dimensionless distance between two
Dhyd
neighbouring grid spacers the Levy model (Levy, 1967) and modified Armand model (see
lf Ratio liquid viscosity to vapor viscosity Stewart et al., 1977), respectively. The lateral interchannel mixing
lg
qf Ratio of liquid density to vapor density effect between interacting subchannels is decomposed into two
qg
elemental components, i.e. diversion cross flow that induced by
 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454 5

Table 2
Geometrical specification of the test sections selected in the current study for developing the basic form of the rod-bundle CHF correlation.

Test Section No. [–] Lh [mm] D [mm] P [mm] g sp [mm]

HTRF-156 4267.20 9.50 12.60 660.4

HTRF-157 2438.40 9.50 12.60 660.4
HTRF-160 2438.40 9.50 12.60 558.8
HTRF-161 4267.20 9.50 12.60 558.8
HTRF-163 2438.40 9.50 12.60 558.8

Fig. 1. Radial geometry of the 5  5 test rod bundle and subdivision of the subchannels, which are categorized into 2 types: matrix subchannel and peripheral subchannel.

Table 3 analysis is the modeling of the turbulent mixing effect. Accord-

Experimental data range applied in the current study for developing rod-bundle CHF ingly, mass flow rate per unit axial (main streamwise) length due
correlation.
to turbulent mixing from an arbitrary subchannel i to its neighbor-
Parameter Physical meaning Unit Range ing subchannel j with a connecting gap clearance of Sij is given as:
pex outlet pressure/reference pressure MPa 10.3–16.7
Gin inlet mass velocity kg m2 s1 680–4800 Gi Ai þ Gj Aj
0:05 to 0:96 w0ij ¼ b  Sij  ð9Þ
xeq;in inlet equilibrium quality – Ai þ Aj
p local pressure MPa 10.3–16.7
G local mass velocity kg m2 s1 695–4990
xeq local equilibrium quality – 0:07 to 0:41 where b is a dimensionless turbulent mixing coefficient. G and A
stands for the subchannel mass velocity and flow area, respectively.
The subscripts i and j denote then the flow parameters of subchan-
Table 4 nel i and j, respectively. In COBRA-IV-I code, turbulent mixing is
COBRA-IV models used for calculation of local flow conditions at CHF location. assumed as an equal mass exchange that does not produce a net
mass flow exchange between interacting subchannels. However, a
Pressure drop models
Single phase turbulent friction factor 0:184  Re0:2
net exchange of energy and momentum will occur, if enthalpy
Two-phase friction multiplier Armand model and velocity difference exist between interacting subchannels.
(see Stewart et al., 1977) Since the predicted local flow conditions with subchannel code
Grid spacer pressure lost factor 1.250 (see Reddy and depend strongly on the turbulent mixing coefficient b, a sensitivity
Fighetti, 1982b)
study of the turbulent mixing coefficient b on the CHF correlation
Quality-void relations developed in this study with the COBRA-IV-I code was conducted.
Subcooled boiling void fraction Levy model (Levy, 1967)
The objective was to study the sensitivity of the developed CHF
Saturated boiling void fraction Modified Armand model
(see Stewart et al., 1977) correlations to the turbulent mixing coefficient b. The local flow
conditions at CHF locations were obtained with the COBRA-IV-I
Interchannel mixing models
Diversion cross flow resistance factor 0.5 code by keeping all the other models constant but with varying
Turbulent mixing coefficient 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.08 the value of b from 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04 up to 0.08. The respective
error statistics of the CHF correlation are given in Table 5, in which
l
; RMS and s stand for the average value of P=M between CHF pre-
lateral mean pressure difference between interacting subchannels dicted with the correlation and CHF obtained in measurement, the
and turbulent mixing caused by stochastic turbulent flow fluctua- corresponding root mean square error and the corresponding stan-
tion. For diversion cross flow a constant transverse resistance coef- dard deviation, respectively. As shown in Table 5, error statistics of
ficient of 0.5 was used in the current study. The mixing effect due the CHF correlations improve with increasing turbulent mixing
to diversion cross flow was solved in COBRA-IV-I code with a lat- coefficient b. Both RMS and s decrease significantly with b value
eral momentum equation (Stewart et al., 1977). The most sensible larger than 0.02, therefore, a b value of 0.02 was used in the sub-
parameter that might affect the predictive accuracy of subchannel channel analysis in the current study.
6 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454

Table 5
Sensitivity study of the turbulent mixing coefficient b.

b 0.005 0.01 0.02 0.04 0.08

l
1.004 1.003 1.002 1.001 1.001
RMS 0.137 0.0736 0.0567 0.0524 0.0518
s 0.138 0.0736 0.0567 0.0524 0.0518

3.3. Development of CHF Correlation based on stepwise regression and prediction CHF, respectively. Apparently, a random distribu-
method tion of the residual exists in the complete range of the predicted
lnðBoÞ, which proves the validity of the assumed linear additivity.
The dimensionless parameters summarized in Table 1 defines
the initial set of candidate independent variables of the CHF corre- 4.2. Assessment of the prediction accuracy of the CHF correlation
lation. Due to its wide application in various correlations of two-
phase flow boiling behavior, the power function was chosen as In order to assess the accuracy of the proposed CHF correlation
the mathematic form. Furthermore, the choice of power function (Eq. (13)), the ratio P=M between CHF predicted with the correla-
was based on the consideration, that extension of the basic form tion P and CHF obtained in measurement M was investigated.
with additional term to account for the effects of unheated cold The following error statistics were evaluated:
wall and non-uniform axial heat flux profile can be easily con-
ducted. Accordingly, the basic form of the rod-bundle CHF correla-
Averaged value of P=M ratio, termed as l

:
tion consists of the Boiling number (Bo) as a power function of the
candidate independent variables: X
N
ðP=M Þk
Y
Bo ¼ a0
b
Fi i ð10Þ l
¼ k¼1
ð14Þ
N
in which F i could be one of the dimensionless candidate indepen-
Root mean square error, termed as RMS:
dent variables in Table 1 and bi is then the corresponding coeffi- vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u N
cient. a0 is also a coefficient. For convenience of linear regression, uX
2
u ðP=MÞk  1
the above basic form of a power function was modified to an addi- u
t k¼1
tive form of logarithmic terms of the dimensionless parameters. RMS ¼ ð15Þ
This yields: N
X
Standard deviation, termed as s:
lnðBoÞ ¼ lnða0 Þ þ bi lnðFi Þ ð11Þ
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u N
This additive form is suitable for development of a linear regres- uX

u ðP=MÞk  l
2
sion model. With stepwise regression, lnðFi Þ was filtered according u
t k¼1
to their respective importance to the prediction of lnðBoÞ and an s¼ ð16Þ
N
optimal final choice of the independent variables was determined.
This yields: where ðP=MÞk is the P=M ratio of the k-th data point. The average
value of P=M (termed as l
), the corresponding root mean square
lnðBoÞ ¼ 3:486 þ 0:106lnðXtt Þ þ 1:733lnðJaÞ  0:505lnðWeÞ error(termed as RMS) and the corresponding standard deviation
      ð12Þ
l q d
3:055ln l f þ 5:074ln qf  0:142ln D g (termed as s) were determined as 1.002, 0.0567 and 0.0567,
g g hyd
respectively. Furthermore, of all the P=M data points, 74.0% fall
into the interval between s and þs, 94.3% fall into the interval
between 2s and þ2s and 98.6% fall into the interval between
in which the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter Xtt , the Jacob number Ja,
3s and þ3s.
the Weber number We, the ratio of liquid viscosity to vapor viscosity
lf =lg , the ratio of liquid density to vapor density qf =qg and the
dimensionless distance of the CHF location to the last grid spacer
upstream dg =Dhyd were determined as the primary influencing
parameters of the Boiling number Bo. Accordingly, the final form
of the CHF correlation proposed in the current study is given as:
!3:055 !5:074
0:142
lf qf dg
Bo ¼ 32:639X0:106 Ja1:733 We0:505
tt
lg qg Dhyd
ð13Þ

4. Assessment of the proposed CHF correlation

4.1. Assessment of the linear additivity

The implied assumption in the development of CHF correlation

is that a linear additivity of lnðFi Þ for the prediction of lnðBoÞ exists
as given in Eq. (12). Therefore, as shown in Fig. 2, the linear addi-
tivity was checked by plotting the residual between the measured
and the predicted lnðBoÞ, which were obtained with the measured Fig. 2. Residual check for the linear additivity.
 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454
Fig. 3. M/P frequency distribution (histogram) in comparison with the normal
distribution (solid line).
Fig. 3 shows further the frequency distribution of P=M
(histogram in the figure), which agrees well with the theoretical
normal distribution as indicated with solid line in the figure.
Fig. 4. Assessment of the proposed CHF correlation: P/M distribution versus (a) the local equilibrium quality, (b) the local mass velocity, (c) the local reduced pressure and (d)
the measured CHF, respectively.
7
Residual analysis was also performed by plotting the P=M ratio
versus the local equilibrium quality, the local mass velocity, the
local reduced pressure and the measured CHF, respectively, as
shown in Fig. 4. In the complete application ranges of the proposed
correlation, the P=M data distribution shows no systematic bias as
the function of any parameter as investigated. The P=M data points
are more or less evenly distributed within the interval of 0.8 and
1.2, thus confirming the adequacy of the form of the proposed
CHF correlation and ensuring the reliability of the proposed CHF
calculation.
Finally, the predicted CHF P as a function of the measured CHF
M is shown in Fig. 5. Almost all of the data points fall into the 15%
limits as indicated with dashed lines in the subfigure. Despite of
the rather simple form of the proposed correlation, CHF calculated
with the correlation matches quite well with the experimental
data.
Furthermore, Fig. 6(a) and (b) compares the prediction accuracy
of the CHF correlation proposed in this study with that of selected
CHF correlations. The W-3 correlation (Tong and Weisman, 1996)
and the EPRI correlation (Reddy and Fighetti, 1982a), both devel-
oped for usage in rod bundle, were taken as reference, to which
the new CHF correlation will be compared. The main reasons of
choosing the two correlations are as follows:

First, as mentioned in the introduction, both W-3 correlation
and EPRI correlation are available in the open literature.
8 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454
Fig. 5. Comparison of the predicted CHF values with that obtained from measure-
ment. The two dashed lines stand for þ15% and 15% relative deviation,
respectively.

Furthermore, the W-3 correlation is one of the very first rod-
bundle CHF correlations established in engineering design and
has been chosen in many cases as reference for comparison.

The EPRI correlation, on the other hand, was developed based
on the complete data bank obtained on the Columbia Univer-
sity’s HTRF facility, which makes the EPRI correlation a correla-
tion of a wide range of validity. Hence the EPRI correlation was
also chosen as a reference for comparison.
It should be noted that, since the W-3 correlation is valid for
local equilibrium quality in the range of 0:15 < xeq < 0:15 (Tong
and Weisman, 1996), only test cases with local equilibrium quality
in this range were included when applying the W-3 correlation. For
the W-3 correlation, the average value of P=M (termed as l
), the
corresponding root mean square error (termed as RMS) and the
corresponding standard deviation (termed as s) were determined
as 0:857; 0:211 and 0:211, respectively. While for the EPRI correla-
tion, l
; RMS and s were determined as 0:927; 0:0655 and 0:0655,
respectively. Compared to the W-3 correlation, the proposed new
correlation shows a much better prediction accuracy. The EPRI cor-
relation, on the other hand, has a similar prediction accuracy as the
new CHF correlation proposed in this study.
Fig. 6. Comparison of the proposed CHF correlation with (a) W-3 correlation and (b) EPRI correlation.
5. Conclusions and outlook
In this study, stepwise regression method was employed to
develop a new rod-bundle CHF correlation for application under
PWR working conditions. Based on consensus characteristics of
the CHF phenomenon, a number of dimensionless physical param-
eters with significant relevance to the convective flow boiling heat
transfer were selected as the initial set of candidate independent
variables. The final choice of the independent variables of the
CHF correlation and their corresponding coefficients in the correla-
tion were carried out with the stepwise regression method in a
dynamic manner. Compared to rod-bundle CHF correlations cur-
rently available in literature, the CHF correlation proposed in this
study has a much simpler form and matches also well with the
experimental data. Furthermore, by using dimensionless numbers
as independent variables can largely enhance the physical inter-
pretability of the proposed CHF correlation. The advantages of
using only dimensionless parameter with physical meanings as
independent variables of rod-bundle CHF correlation was clearly
demonstrated.
In this study test cases with axial uniform power distribution
were used to develop the basic form of a complete rod-bundle
CHF correlation. Modification of the basic form accounting for
the effect of the unheated guide tube (i.e. cold wall effect) and also
the effect of non-uniform axial power distribution is required in
continuous studies. The current study demonstrates the feasibility
of the stepwise regression method as a useful tool when develop-
ing simple but reliable CHF correlation consisting of only dimen-
sionless parameters, which points out a new promising approach
for engineering purpose.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Bo Pang: Writing - original draft, Methodology, Software, Inves-
tigation, Validation, Visualization, Funding acquisition. Yuan Yin:
Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing,
Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
 B. Pang, Y. Yin / Annals of Nuclear Energy 143 (2020) 107454
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of
Guangdong Province (2018A030313830) and by the Natural
Science Foundation of Shenzhen University (Grant No. 2017070).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, athttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.
107454.
References
Chen, J.C., 1966. Correlation for boiling heat transfer to saturated fluids in
convective flow. Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Design Develop. 5 (3), 322–329.
Cheng, X., 2005. Experimental studies on critical heat flux in vertical tight 37-rod
bundles using freon-12. Int. J. Multiph. Flow 31, 1198–1219.
Cheng, X., Müller, U., 2003. Review on critical heat flux in water cooled reactors.
Scientific Report FZKA 6825..
Draper, N., Smith, H., 1981. Applied Regression Analysis. John Wiley & Sons Inc.,
New York.
Katto, K., Ohno, H., 1984. An improved version of the generalized correlation of
critical heat flux for the forced convective boiling in uniformly heated vertical
tubes. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 27 (9), 1641–1648.
Lee, C.H., Mudawar, I., 1988. A mechanistic critical heat flux model for subcooled
flow boiling based on local bulk flow conditions. Int. J. Multiph. Flow 44 (6),
711–728.
9
Levy, S., 1967. Forced convection subcooled boiling – prediction of vapor volumetric
fraction. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 10, 951–965.
Pang, B. et al., 2019. Revision of a CHF correlation for PWR under low pressure
conditions with only dimensionless parameters as independent variables.
Kerntechnik 84 (3), 140–146.
Pang, B., Cheng, X., 2017. Assessment of two-phase interchannel mixing models for
BWR and PWR conditions. Ann. Nucl. Energy 99, 283–291.
Reddy, D., Fighetti, C., 1982. Parametric study of CHF data, Vol. 2. A generalized
subchannel CHF correlation for PWR and BWR fuel assemblies. NP-2609.
Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA..
Reddy, D., Fighetti, C., 1982. Parametric study of CHF data, Vol. 3. Critical heat flux
data. NP-2609. Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA..
Rosal, E.R., Cermak, J.O., Tong, L.S., Casterline, J.E., Kokolis, S., Matzner, B., 1974. High
pressure rod bundle DNB data with axially non-uniform heat flux. Nucl. Eng.
Des. 31 (1), 1–20.
Stewart, C.W., Wheeler, C.L., Cena, R.J., McMonagle, C.A., Cuta, J.M., Trent, D.S., 1977.
COBRA-IV: The model and the method. Technical Report BNWL-2214. BATTELLE
Pacific Northwest Laboratories.
Tong, L.S., Hewitt, G.F., 1972. Overall viewpoint of flow boiling CHF mechanisms.
ASME, 72-HT-54..
Tong, L.S., Tang, Y.S., 1997. Boiling Heat Transfer and Two-Phase Flow. Taylor &
Francis.
Tong, L.S., Weisman, J., 1996. Thermal Analysis of Pressurized Water Reactors. third
ed. ISBN: 0-89448-038-3. American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Illinois
USA..
Weismann, J., Pei, B.S., 1983. Prediction of critical heat flux in flow boiling at low
qualities. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 26, 1463–1477.
Yin, Y., Fu, X., Zhu, Y., Pang, B., 2018. Proposal of a novel CHF correlation for PWR
under low pressure conditions based on stepwise regression method.
Kerntechnik 83 (3), 199–202.