Application of Korteweg's capillary stress tensor in momentum balance for flashing flow

This paper presents a modification to the Gizburg-Landau model by means of a new definition of stress tensor for liquid-vapour mixture. The proposed modification takes into account stresses arising in response to density gradients that models the contribution of interfacial areas in the homogeneous Ginzburg-Landau model. The additional capillary stress is derived from the constitutive equation postulated by Korteweg. The modified model has beentested on classical experiments of water-steam flows, such as Moby Dick and BNL. It seems that the inclusion of capillary stresses brings about a significant improvement both in the mass flow rate and pressure distribution predictions. These facts promise the possibility of better description of phenomena occurring in choked two-phase flows.