Study of droplets growth during steam flow in convergent-divergent nozzle

The expansion of wet steam has long been known to be associated with losses of efficiency, but the problem has until recently been confined to the last stages of the low pressure turbines. However, with the advent of the water-cooled nuclear reactor, steam with little or no superheat is supplied to the high pressure turbine and therefore wetness problems have spread to all sections of the power plant. A better insight into these would be the first step towards better design and improved efficiency. In the present study, experimental tests were carried out determining the limiting supersaturation conditions in the supersonic region of convergent-divergent nozzle. An experiment is extended to measure the rate of droplet growth in the divergent section of the nozzle designed. Finally, data resulted from the experimental tests are then compared with the theoretical results obtained from the previous study. It is found that both results are within good agreement.