Supercritical fluid is a type of fluid that reaches or exceeds the critical temperature and pressure. Liquids and gases enter the supercritical stage when heated above the critical temperature
Tc and compressed above the critical pressure
Pc. Above the critical temperature (
Tc = 30.98 °C) and critical pressure (
Pc = 7.38 MPa), CO
2 goes into the supercritical state. Working in this state, CO
2 does not undergo a phase transition (
Figure 1a). Thermo–physical parameters of SCO
2, e.g., the density and dynamic viscosity, change dramatically when approaching the critical point, as shown in
Figure 1b. This is the notable feature of SCO
2 compared to constant–property fluids. The isobaric–specific heat of SCO
2 peaks at the pseudo–critical temperature (
Tpc). The rapid and nonlinear changes in the specific heat of SCO
2 against the temperature at several supercritical pressures are shown in
Figure 2. The pseudo–critical temperature
Tpc of SCO
2 increases when the working pressure increases. Far from the critical point, however, the change has been less pronounced. When SCO
2 is cooling, the initial performance change is small and, when the temperature reaches the
Tpc, the performance changes drastically. As the working pressure approaches
Pc, the specific heat peak becomes sharper, which makes the heat transfer coefficient increase significantly. Compared with supercritical water, SCO
2 is more suitable as a heat transfer fluid because of its lower critical parameters and lower specific volume values. In a typical SCO
2 recompression Brayton cycle, as shown in
Figure 3a, the cooling process 8–1 makes the density and specific heat of CO
2 increase rapidly during cooling near
Tc, causing the compressor to deliver a high–density fluid. Therefore, the compression of the high–density fluid by the compressor reduces power consumption and improves the overall thermal performance of the cycle. In the trans–critical CO
2 cycle, process 2–3 in
Figure 3b is also the cooling process above the
Pc, and the heat transfer process at this stage will affect the performance of the whole cycle.
Tpc can be written and calculated as an algebraic function of the working pressure. The unit of working pressure is bar and the unit of result temperature is Celsius
[22].
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of a typical SCO2 recompression Brayton cycle (a) and a trans–critical CO2 cycle (b).
3. Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide under Cooling Conditions in Energy and Power Systems
The effects of parameters such as mass flow, pressure, pipe diameter, and buoyancy on flow heat transfer under different channel types have been studied in experiments—the heat transfer coefficient increases as the flow rate increases under cooling conditions. The thermo–physical properties of SCO2 change drastically near the pseudo–critical point and, the closer to the critical point, the larger the peak value of physical property change. The heat transfer coefficient reaches a more significant peak value in the pseudo–critical region when the operating pressure is close to Pc. Nu decreases with the decrease in tube diameter. The pressure drop exhibits a trend consistent with the heat transfer coefficient.
In terms of numerical research, most simulation works were based on the commercial software FLUENT or CFX. Detailed velocity, temperature, and turbulence distribution information under different channel types were obtained, and unique phenomena, such as secondary flow and changes in buoyancy along the flow process, were analyzed. However, the RANS model cannot give reliable results quantitatively, and the performance of the same RANS model under different operating conditions varies greatly. Therefore, it is not easy to achieve model generality. Although DNS can only be carried out at low Re at present, it can study the unsteady flow characteristics of SCO2 turbulent flow with strong buoyancy in the tubes and create a database for establishing new turbulence models.
A large number of heat transfer correlations have been established. These correlations are fairly predictable within their corresponding parameter ranges but, so far, there is no general correlation that can be used for the entire SCO2 cooling operating range. Establishing a general correlation requires a clearer understanding of the SCO2 cooling process.