Mixture-based loss evaluation and critical superheat determination in transonic steam flows for flexible turbine operation: An experimentally validated OpenFOAM approach

Deep peak regulation and flexible operation of steam turbines are imperative for integrating renewable energy into modern power grids. However, operation under low-load conditions frequently drives the last-stage expansion into the unstable non-equilibrium condensation zone, risking significant efficiency penalties and blade erosion. Current loss evaluation methods often rely on simplified single-phase gas assumptions, failing to accurately quantify the thermodynamic irreversibility inherent in these transient two-phase flows. To address this, this study develops a thermodynamically consistent two-phase framework implemented in OpenFOAM. The solver couples non-equilibrium nucleation and droplet growth kinetics…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province