Abstract: In once through steam generators, the secondary fluid is heated by the primary fluid. Therefore, the axial heat flux distribution is related to the operational parameters of the fluids in both sides. The RELAP5/MOD4.0 code is adopted to perform the static and transient simulations of a once through steam generator. The temperature, thermal equilibrium quality and heat flux distributions under both heating modes are analyzed and compared. The oscillation behavior of the once through steam generator is discussed and the instantaneous axial profiles of secondary mass flow rate, heat flux as well as tube wall temperature corresponding to four representative times in an oscillation period are further investigated. Finally, the effect of increasing the secondary inlet throttling is studied. The results show that the shape of heat flux distribution under convective heating mainly depends on the temperature difference between primary fluid and secondary fluid. When density wave oscillations occur in the once through steam generators, the primary outlet temperature and total heating power oscillate intensely. The location of the dryout point moves greatly and the tube wall temperature fluctuates most violently in its vicinity. Flow oscillation could be suppressed by increasing the inlet throttling of the secondary side.