An experiment is conducted here to investigate how an imposed time periodic flow rate oscillation in the form of a triangular wave affects the long time subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics of refrigerant R-134a in a horizontal narrow annular duct. In the experiment the mean R134a mass flux (G) over bar varies from 200 to 500 kg/m(2) s, imposed heat flux ranges from 0 to 45 kW/m(2), and the amplitude of the mass flux oscillation changes from 0 to 30% of (G) over bar with the period of the mass flux oscillation varied from 20 to 120 s for the inlet liquid subcooling ranging from 0 to 6 degrees C. The duct gap is fixed at 2.0 mm. The results indicate that the inlet liquid subcooling significantly affects the oscillatory flow boiling heat transfer characteristics. Besides, when the imposed heat flux is close to that for the onset of stable flow boiling, intermittent flow boiling appears. The intermittent boiling prevails in a very different range of the Boiling number for a change in the inlet subcooling. Moreover, in the subcooled boiling the heated wall temperature, bubble departure diameter and frequency, and active nucleation site density also oscillate periodically in time. Furthermore, in the persistent boiling at high imposed heat flux the resulting T-w oscillation is stronger for a higher inlet liquid subcooling and for a longer period and a larger amplitude of the mass flux oscillation. And for a larger amplitude of the mass flux oscillation, stronger temporal oscillations in d(p), f and n(ac) are noted. Finally, a flow regime map is provided to delineate the boundaries separating different boiling regimes for the oscillatory R-134a subcooled flow boiling in the annular duct. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.