Critical heat flux (CHF) experiments using deionized water as working fluid have been conducted in a range of pressure from 0.6 to 4.2 MPa, mass flow velocity from 60 to 130 kg/m(2) s and wall heat flux from 10 to 90 kW/m(2) for vertical narrow annuli with annular gap sizes of 0.95 and 1.5 mm. We found that the CHF, occurring only on the inside tube, or on the outside tube or on both tubes of the annular channel, depends on the heat flux ratio between surfaces of the outside and inside tubes. The CHF, occurring on the surface of the inside tube, reaches the maximum value under the pressure of 2.3 MPa while it occurring on the surface of the outside tube keeps increasing with the increase of the pressure. The CHF, occurring on the inside or outside tubes, increases with the increase of the mass flow velocity and the annular gap size: and decreases with the increase of critical quality and the other tube wall heat flux. Empirical correlations, which agree quite well with the experimental data, have been developed to predict the CHF occurring on surfaces of the inside or outside tubes of the narrow annular channel on the conditions of low pressure and low flow. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.