Nucleate Boiling Instability of Alkali Metals

1966 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Marto ◽  
W. M. Rohsenow

A simplified theoretical model for bubble nucleation stability has been proposed, and an approximate stability criterion has been developed. This criterion contains both fluid and surface properties, and it predicts that nucleation for sodium should be unstable. Commercial-grade sodium was boiled from a horizontal disk at pressures near 60 mm Hg absolute, with sodium temperatures near 1200 F. Heat fluxes as high as 236,000 Btu/hr ft2 were attained. Boiler surface finishes ranged from highly polished mirror finishes to coarse, porous coatings. The effects of surface material, chemical treatment, heat flux, and cavity geometry on nucleation stability were measured, and the experimental results agreed with the predictions of the proposed stability model.

Author(s):  
Akshat Negi ◽  
Aniket M. Rishi ◽  
Satish G. Kandlikar

Abstract Boiling heat transfer is extensively used in various industrial applications to efficiently dissipate a large amount of heat by maintaining lower surface temperatures. The maximum heat flux dissipated during boiling is limited by the critical heat flux (CHF) and limited visualization of the boiling surface limits the identification of the impending CHF condition to rely on temperature monitoring alone. The study presented here focuses on developing a method for analyzing and identifying acoustic signatures throughout the nucleate boiling regimes that are indicative of the boiling state of the heater surface. The bubble nucleation and coalescence along with bubble collapse at the liquid-vapor interface leads to variation in acoustic emission patterns during boiling. These sound waves are studied and acoustic signatures that are representative of the impending CHF are identified over plain and enhanced copper substrates with water as the working fluid. During pool boiling study, it was observed that sound was dominant in two frequency regions (400–500 Hz dominant throughout nucleate boiling and 100–200 Hz dominant at heat fluxes > 100 W/cm2). However, just before CHF, a sudden drop in amplitude was observed in the high frequency region (400–500 Hz), while the amplitude in low frequency region (100–200 Hz) continued to rise. It was concluded that this acoustic study can be used as a tool to predict the approaching CHF condition.


1966 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Marto ◽  
W. M. Rohsenow

Commercial grade sodium was boiled from a horizontal disk at pressures of 65 mm, 200 mm, and 400 mm Hg absolute, with sodium temperatures ranging from 1200 F to 1500 deg F. Heat fluxes as high as 236,000 Btu/hr sq ft were attained. Boiler surface finishes ranged from highly polished mirror finishes to coarse, porous coatings. By following a prescribed cleaning and filling procedure, nucleate-boiling results were generally reproducible for a given-type surface. The effect of roughness as well as any aging and hysteresis effects were experimentally determined. Incipient nucleate boiling results are discussed as well as the effect of pressure and pool depth on the nucleate-boiling curve.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akshat Negi ◽  
Aniket M. Rishi ◽  
Satish G. Kandlikar

Abstract Boiling heat transfer is extensively used in various industrial applications to efficiently dissipate a large amount of heat by maintaining low surface to fluid temperature differences. The maximum heat flux dissipated during boiling is limited by the critical heat flux (CHF). Difficulties in visualizing the boiling process and monitoring surface temperature make it difficult to identify the impending CHF condition. As a result, larger factors of safety are employed, and the equipment is operated at considerably lower heat fluxes. This study focuses on identifying acoustic signatures of different nucleate boiling regimes. The bubble nucleation and coalescence along with bubble collapse lead to variation in acoustic emission patterns during boiling. In this work, acoustic signatures representative of the impending CHF condition are identified during pool boiling of water over plain and enhanced copper substrates. It was observed that sound was dominant in two frequency regions (400–500 Hz dominant throughout the nucleate boiling, and 100–200 Hz dominant at heat fluxes > 100 W/cm2). However, just before CHF, a sudden drop in amplitude was observed in the high frequency region (400–500 Hz), while the amplitude in low frequency region (100–200 Hz) continued to rise. This combination of the amplitude trend has potential to predict the approaching CHF condition. This is the first study that correlates high-speed images with the acoustic trends at different stages of nucleate boiling and compares experimental frequency with Minnaert frequency for coalescing bubbles.


Author(s):  
R. Hosseini ◽  
A. Gholaminejad ◽  
Mahdi Nabil ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Samadinia

This paper presents results of an experimental investigation carried out to determine the effects of surface material on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of refrigerant R113. Experiments were performed on horizontal circular plates of brass, copper and aluminum. The heat transfer coefficient was evaluated by measuring wall superheat and effective heat flux removed by boiling. The experiments were carried out in the heat flux range of 8 to 200kW/m2. The obtained results have shown significant effect of surface material, with copper providing the highest heat transfer coefficient among the samples, and aluminum the least. There was negligible difference at low heat fluxes, but copper showed 23% better performance at high heat fluxes than aluminum and 18% better than brass.


Author(s):  
Isaac Perez-Raya ◽  
Satish G. Kandlikar

Effective heat transfer techniques benefit the development of nuclear and fossil fuel powered steam generators, high power electronic devices, and industrial refrigeration systems. Boiling dissipates large heat fluxes while keeping a low and a constant surface temperature. However, studies of the fluid behavior surrounding the bubble and the heat transfer near the contact-line are scare due to difficulties of flow visualization, chaotic conditions, and small length scales. The preset study shows the simulation of bubble growth over a heated surface from conception to departure. The computation of mass transfer with interfacial temperature gradients leads to proper bubble growth rates. Models to include the interface sharpness uncover the dynamic and thermal interaction between the interface and the fluid. Results indicate that the nucleation of a bubble (in water at 1 atm with 6.2 K wall superheat) has an influence region of 2Db (where Db is the departure bubble diameter). In addition, results reveal a thin thermal film near the interface that increases the heat transfer at the contact-line region. Numerical bubble growth rates compare well with experimental data on single bubble nucleation.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. Haddad ◽  
F. B. Cheung

Steady-state nucleate boiling heat transfer experiments in saturated and subcooled water were conducted. The heating surface was a 0.305 m hemispherical aluminum vessel heated from the inside with water boiling on the outside. It was found that subcooling had very little effect on the nucleate boiling curve in the high heat flux regime where latent heat transport dominated. On the other hand, a relatively large effect of subcooling was observed in the low-heat-flux regime where sensible heat transport was important. Photographic records of the boiling phenomenon and the bubble dynamics indicated that in the high-heat-flux regime, boiling in the bottom center region of the vessel was cyclic in nature with a liquid heating phase, a bubble nucleation and growth phase, a bubble coalescence phase, and a large vapor mass ejection phase. At the same heat flux level, the size of the vapor masses was found to decrease from the bottom center toward the upper edge of the vessel, which was consistent with the increase observed in the critical heat flux in the flow direction along the curved heating surface.


Author(s):  
Chidambaram Narayanan ◽  
Siju Thomas ◽  
Djamel Lakehal

This paper presents results of numerical simulations of various processes that demonstrate phase change heat transfer at high heat fluxes using the level-set method. The model used for the purpose has been first validated for the growth of an evaporating bubble in infinite medium, and fim boiling in 2D and 3D. It has then been applied to simulate the nucleation and departure of a single bubble from a solid body subject to conductive heat transfer. Unlike our previous investigations where phase change induced evaporation rate was incorporated like a sub-grid scale heat transfer model applied to the triple contact line, the present work reports simulations with direct phase change modelling by integrating energy fluxes at the interface. The effect of the conductive heat transfer in the solid from which the bubble departs is also taken into account. Comparison with visual images suggests that accounting for conjugate heat transfer is important to capturing micro-hydrodynamics in nucleate boiling, at least qualitatively.


Author(s):  
Alexis Schubert ◽  
John Keffler ◽  
Alfonso Ortega

This paper describes a study focused on heat and mass transfer through various porous media involving both boiling and transpiration. Heat was supplied to a porous structure immersed in water. Water was boiled at the base of the porous material and in some cases advected from the porous structure by air blown over its surface. The porous media was expected to provide higher heat fluxes than those attained during pool boiling by providing additional surface area and by increasing the number of nucleation sites. The behavior was studied from just below the boiling point and into the nucleate boiling regime. The experimental apparatus consisted of a 2.5 cm square jet impinging onto a 2.5 cm square porous sample. A total of four copper foam samples and one carbon graphite foam sample were tested. The foam sample was placed in contact with a 2.5 cm square heated surface. Water was supplied through the sides of the porous sample and was able to leave the system as a vapor through the top surface of the sample, where it was advected away. It was determined that the presence of an impinging jet had no noticeable effect on heat flux. Up to 60% enhancement in heat flux was observed, compared to boiling of the plain surface. Contact resistance was significant and mitigated the affects of sample thermal conductivity.


Author(s):  
Mohamed S. El-Genk ◽  
Jack L. Parker

Experiments are conducted that investigated pool boiling of FC-72 liquid at saturation and 10, 20, and 30 K subcooling on porous graphite and smooth copper surfaces measuring 10 × 10 mm. The nucleate boiling heat flux, Critical Heat Flux (CHF), and surface superheats at boiling incipience are compared. Theses heat fluxes are also compared with those of other investigators for smooth copper and silicon, etched SiO2, surfaces and micro-porous coating. No temperature excursion at boiling incipience on the porous graphite that occurred at a surface superheats of < 1.0 K. Conversely, the temperature excursions of 24.0 K and 12.4–17.8 K are measured at incipient boiling in saturation and subcooled boiling on copper. Nucleate boiling heat fluxes on porous graphite are significantly higher and corresponding surface superheats are much smaller than on copper. CHF on porous graphite (27.3, 39.6, 49.0, and 57.1 W/cm2 in saturation and 10 K, 20 K, and 30 K subcooled boiling, respectively) are 61.5%–207% higher than those on copper (16.9, 19.5, 23.6, and 28.0 W/cm2, respectively). The surface superheats at CHF on the porous graphite of 11.5 K in saturation and 17–20 K in subcooled boiling are significantly lower that those on copper (25 K and 26–28 K, respectively). In addition, the rate of increase of CHF on porous graphite with increased subcooling is ~ 125% higher than that on copper.


1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Yilmaz ◽  
J. W. Westwater

Measurements were made of the heat transfer to Freon-113 at near atmospheric pressure, boiling outside a 6.5 mm dia horizontal steam-heated copper tube. Tests included pool boiling and also forced flow vertically upward at uelocities of 2.4, 4.0 and 6.8 m/s. The metal-to-liquid ΔT ranged from 13 to 125° C, resulting in nucleate, transition, and film boiling. The boiling curves for different velocities did not intersect or overlap, contrary to some prior investigators. The peak heat flux was proportional to the square root of velocity, agreeing with the Vliet-Leppert correlation, but disagreeing with the Lienhard-Eichhorn prediction of an exponent of 0.33. The forced-flow nucleate boiling data were well correlated by Rohsenow’s equation, except at high heat fluxes. Heat fluxes in film boiling were proportional to velocity to the exponent 0.56, close to the 0.50 value given by Bromley, LeRoy, and Robbers. Transition boiling was very sensitive to velocity; at a ΔT of 55° C the heat flux was 900 percent higher for a velocity of 2.4 m/s than for zero velocity.


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