Onset of Nucleate Boiling and Active Nucleation Site Density During Subcooled Flow Boiling

2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilanjana Basu ◽  
Gopinath R. Warrier ◽  
Vijay K. Dhir

The partitioning of the heat flux supplied at the wall is one of the key issues that needs to be resolved if one is to model subcooled flow boiling accurately. The first step in studying wall heat flux partitioning is to account for the various heat transfer mechanisms involved and to know the location at which the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) occurs. Active nucleation site density data is required to account for the energy carried away by the bubbles departing from the wall. Subcooled flow boiling experiments were conducted using a flat plate copper surface and a nine-rod (zircalloy-4) bundle. The location of ONB during the experiments was determined from visual observations as well as from the thermocouple output. From the data obtained it is found that the heat flux and wall superheat required for inception are dependent on flow rate, liquid subcooling, and contact angle. The existing correlations for ONB underpredict the wall superheat at ONB in most cases. A correlation for predicting the wall superheat and wall heat flux at ONB has been developed from the data obtained in this study and that reported in the literature. Experimental data are within ±30 percent of that predicted from the correlation. Active nucleation site density was determined by manually counting the individual sites in pictures obtained using a CCD camera. Correlations for nucleation site density, which are independent of flow rate and liquid subcooling, but dependent on contact angle have been developed for two ranges of wall superheat—one below 15°C and another above 15°C.

Author(s):  
Hongsheng Yuan ◽  
Sichao Tan ◽  
Kun Cheng ◽  
Xiaoli Wu ◽  
Chao Guo ◽  
...  

The flow rate can fluctuate in offshore nuclear power systems which are exposed to wind and waves, as well as in loops where flow instabilities occur, resulting in different thermal-hydraulic characteristics compared with that under steady flow. Among the thermal-hydraulic characteristics, onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) model determines whether the fluid is boiling, and boiling heat transfer is crucial to equipment performance and safety, both being key issues in subcooled flow boiling. Therefore, an experimental study was conducted to investigate how an imposed periodic flow oscillation affects the boiling inception and heat transfer of subcooled flow boiling of water in a vertical tube. The experiments were conducted under atmospheric pressure with the average flow rate ranging from 96kg/m2s to 287kg/m2s and heat flux ranging from 10kW/m2 to 197kW/m2. The relative pulsatile amplitude range is 0.1–0.3 and pulsatile period range is 10s-30s. Photographic images and thermal parameters such as temperatures and flow rate were recorded. The lack of nucleation site on the heated surface of the test section results in high wall superheat at ONB. The effects of pulsatile amplitude and period on superheat at boiling onset and average heat transfer were analyzed. The results show that the superheat at boiling inception is decreased when the average heat flux is lower than the heat flux at boiling inception of the corresponding steady flow, and the superheat at boiling onset is increased when the average heat flux is higher than the heat flux at boiling onset of the corresponding steady flow. The above effect of flow rate pulsation on superheat increases with increasing amplitude and decreasing period, and the mechanism can be explained by boiling nucleation theory. The lack of large active nucleation site also affects the boiling heat transfer. By comparing the contribution of nucleate boiling to heat transfer with the widely used Cooper’s pool boiling correlation, the subcooled flow boiling was found suppressed by convection. The average heat transfer of both the intermittent flow boiling and the single phase flow is influenced by flow oscillation.


Author(s):  
Nilanjana Basu ◽  
Gopinath R. Warrier ◽  
Vijay K. Dhir

In this work a mechanistic model for nucleate boiling heat flux as a function of wall superheat has been developed. The premise of the proposed model is that the entire energy from the wall is first transferred to the superheated liquid layer adjacent to the wall. A fraction of this energy is then utilized for vapor generation. Contribution of each of the heat transfer mechanisms — forced convection, transient conduction, and vapor generation, has been quantified in terms of nucleation site densities, bubble departure and lift off diameters, bubble release frequency, flow parameters like velocity, inlet subcooling, wall superheat, and fluid and surface properties including system pressures. To support the model development, subcooled flow boiling experiments were conducted at pressures of 1.03 to 3.2 bar for a wide range of mass fluxes (124 to 926 kg/m2s), heat fluxes (2.5 to 90 W/cm2) and for contact angles varying from 30° to 90°. Model validation has been carried out with low-pressure data obtained from present work and the wall heat flux predictions are within ± 30% of experimental values. Application of the model to high-pressure data available in literature also showed good agreement, signifying that the model can be extended to all pressures.


Author(s):  
Kan Zhou ◽  
Junye Li ◽  
Zhao-zan Feng ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Hua Zhu ◽  
...  

For improving the functionality and signal speed of electronic devices, electronic components have been miniaturized and an increasing number of elements have been packaged in the device. As a result there has been a steady rise in the amount of heat necessitated to be dissipated from the electronic device. Recently microchannel heat sinks have been emerged as a kind of high performance cooling scheme to meet the heat dissipation requirement of electronics packaging, In the present study an experimental study of subcooled flow boiling in a high-aspect-ratio, one-sided heating rectangular microchannel with gap depth of 0.52 mm and width of 5 mm was conducted with deionized water as the working fluid. In the experimental operations, the mass flux was varied from 200 to 400 kg/m2s and imposed heat flux from 3 to 20 W/cm2 while the fluid inlet temperature was regulated constantly at 90 °C. The boiling curves, flow pattern and onset of nucleate boiling of subcooled flow boiling were investigated through instrumental measurements and a high speed camera. It was found that the slope of the boiling curves increased sharply once the superheat needed to initiate the onset of nucleate boiling was attained, and the slope was greater for lower mass fluxes, with lower superheat required for boiling incipience. As for the visualization images, for relatively lower mass fluxes the bubbles generated were larger and not easy to depart from the vertical upward placed narrow microchannel wall, giving elongated bubbly flow and reverse backflow. The thin film evaporation mechanism dominated the entire test section due to the elongated bubbles and transient local dryout as well as rewetting occurred. Meanwhile the initiative superheat and heat flux of onset of nucleate boiling were compared with existing correlations in the literature with good agreement.


Author(s):  
Chih-Jung Kuo ◽  
Ali Kosar ◽  
Michael K. Jensen ◽  
Yoav Peles

An experimental investigation is presented on flow boiling of de-ionized water in 227-μm hydraulic diameter microchannels with reentrant type cavities. Key features of nucleate boiling are discussed. Active nucleation site density, bubble frequency and departure diameter, and flow patterns over mass velocities ranging from 41 kg/m2-s to 302 kg/m2-s and heat fluxes ranging from 28 to 445 W/cm2 are studied. Similarities and differences with results obtained on large-scale systems and unenhanced microchannels are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2119 (1) ◽  
pp. 012053
Author(s):  
A. S. Shamirzaev

Abstract An experimental study of the pressure drop under subcooled flow boiling of the refrigerant R141b in a system with two slotted microchannels was carried out. A copper block with two microchannels 2 mm wide, 0.4 mm deep, and 16 mm long was used as an experimental section for testing. The mass flow rate varied in the range from 1 to 4 g/s, the initial subcooling from 20°C to 50°C. Experimental data show a significant decrease in the pressure drop when the critical heat flux is reached. The experimental data are compared with the model known from the literature. Experimental data show that the occurrence of nucleate boiling incipience at subcooled boiling corresponds to a larger heat flux than that given by the recommended correlation.


Author(s):  
Akira Oshima ◽  
Koichi Suzuki ◽  
Chungpyo Hong ◽  
Masataka Mochizuki

It has been considered that the dry-out is easy to occur in boiling heat transfer for a small channel, a mini or microchannel because the channel was easily filled with coalescing vapor bubbles. In the present study, the experiments of subcooled flow boiling of water were performed under atmospheric condition for a horizontal rectangular channel of which size is 1mm in height and 1mm in width with a flat heating surface of 10mm in length and 1mm in width placed on the bottom of the channel. The heating surface is a top of copper heating block and heated by ceramics heaters. In the high heat flux region of nucleate boiling, about 70 ∼ 80 percent of heating surface was covered with a large coalescing bubble and the boiling reached critical heat flux (CHF) by a high speed video observation. In the beginning of transition boiling, coalescing bubbles were collapsed to many fine bubbles and microbubble emission boiling was observed at higher liquid subcooling than 30K. The maximum heat flux obtained was 8MW/m2 (800W/cm2) at liquid subcooling of higher than 40K and the liquid velocity of 0.5m/s. However, the surface temperature was extremely higher than that of centimeter scale channel. The high speed video photographs indicated that microbubble emission boiling occurs in the deep transition boiling region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5883
Author(s):  
Edgar Santiago Galicia ◽  
Yusuke Otomo ◽  
Toshihiko Saiwai ◽  
Kenji Takita ◽  
Kenji Orito ◽  
...  

Passive methods to increase the heat flux on the subcooled flow boiling are extremely needed on modern cooling systems. Many methods, including treated surfaces and extended surfaces, have been investigated. Experimental research to enhance the subcooled flow boiling using high sintered fiber attached to the surface was conducted. One bare surface (0 mm) and four porous thickness (0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mm) were compared under three different mass fluxes (200, 400, and 600 kg·m−2·s−1) and three different inlet subcooling temperature (70, 50, 30). Deionized water under atmospheric pressure was used as the working fluid. The results confirmed that the porous body can enhance the heat flux and reduce the wall superheat temperature. However, higher porous thickness presented a reduction in the heat flux in comparison with the bare surface. Bubble formation and pattern flow were recorded using a high-speed camera. The bubble size and formation are generally smaller at higher inlet subcooling temperatures. The enhancement in the heat flux and the reduction on the wall superheat is attributed to the increment on the nucleation sites, the increment on the heating surface area, water supply ability through the porous body, and the vapor trap ability.


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