scholarly journals Effect of Surface Oxidation on the Onset of Nucleate Boiling in a Materials Test Reactor Coolant Channel

Author(s):  
Eric C. Forrest ◽  
Sarah M. Don ◽  
Lin-Wen Hu ◽  
Jacopo Buongiorno ◽  
Thomas J. McKrell

The onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) serves as the thermal-hydraulic operating limit for many research and test reactors. However, boiling incipience under forced convection has not been well-characterized in narrow channel geometries or for oxidized surface conditions. This study presents experimental data for the ONB in vertical upflow of deionized (DI) water in a simulated materials test reactor (MTR) coolant channel. The channel gap thickness and aspect ratio were 1.96 mm and 29∶1, respectively. Boiling surface conditions were carefully controlled and characterized, with both heavily oxidized and native oxide surfaces tested. Measurements were performed for mass fluxes ranging from 750 to 3000  kg/m2 s and for subcoolings ranging from 10 to 45°C. ONB was identified using a combination of high-speed visual observation, surface temperature measurements, and channel pressure drop measurements. Surface temperature measurements were found to be most reliable in identifying the ONB. For the nominal (native oxide) surface, results indicate that the correlation of Bergles and Rohsenow, when paired with the appropriate single-phase heat transfer correlation, adequately predicts the ONB heat flux. Incipience on the oxidized surface occurred at a higher heat flux and superheat than on the plain surface.

Author(s):  
H Long ◽  
A A Lord ◽  
D T Gethin ◽  
B J Roylance

This paper investigates the effects of gear geometry, rotational speed and applied load, as well as lubrication conditions on surface temperature of high-speed gear teeth. The analytical approach and procedure for estimating frictional heat flux and heat transfer coefficients of gear teeth in high-speed operational conditions was developed and accounts for the effect of oil mist as a cooling medium. Numerical simulations of tooth temperature based on finite element analysis were established to investigate temperature distributions and variations over a range of applied load and rotational speed, which compared well with experimental measurements. A sensitivity analysis of surface temperature to gear configuration, frictional heat flux, heat transfer coefficients, and oil and ambient temperatures was conducted and the major parameters influencing surface temperature were evaluated.


2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. D. Wang ◽  
G. Lu ◽  
X. F. Peng ◽  
B. X. Wang

A visual study was conducted to investigate the evaporation and nucleate boiling of a water droplet on heated copper, aluminum, or stainless surfaces with temperature ranging from 50°C to 112°C. Using a high-speed video imaging system, the dynamical process of the evaporation of a droplet was recoded to measure the transient variation of its diameter, height, and contact angle. When the contact temperature was lower than the saturation temperature, the evaporation was in film evaporation regime, and the evaporation could be divided into two stages. When the surface temperature was higher than the saturation temperature, the nucleate boiling was observed. The dynamical behavior of nucleation, bubble dynamics droplet were detail observed and discussed. The linear relationships of the average heat flux vs. temperature of the heated surfaces were found to hold for both the film evaporation regime and nucleate boiling regime. The different slopes indicated their heat transfer mechanism was distinct, the heat flux decreased in the nucleate boiling regime more rapidly than in the film evaporation due to the strong interaction between the bubbles.


Author(s):  
Bambang Joko Suroto ◽  
Masahiro Tashiro ◽  
Sana Hirabayashi ◽  
Sumitomo Hidaka ◽  
Masamichi Kohno ◽  
...  

The effects of hydrophobic circle spot size and subcooling on local film boiling phenomenon from the copper surface with single PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) hydrophobic circle spot at low heat flux has been investigated. The experiments were performed using pure water as the working fluid and subcooling ranging from 0 and 10K. The heat transfer surfaces are used polished copper block with single PTFE hydrophobic circle spot of diameters 2, 4 and 6 mm, respectively. A high-speed camera was used to capture bubble dynamics and disclosed the sequence of the process leading to local film boiling. The result shows that local films boiling occurs on the PTFE circle spot at low heat flux and was triggered by the merging of neighboring bubbles. The study also showed that transition time required for change from nucleate boiling regime to local film boiling regime depends on the diameter of the hydrophobic circle spot and the subcooling. A stable local film boiling occurs at the smallest diameter of hydrophobic spot. Subcooling cause the local film boiling occur at negative superheat and oscillation of bubble dome.


1959 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Siegel ◽  
C. Usiskin

A photographic study was made to determine the qualitative effect of zero gravity on the mechanism of boiling heat transfer. The experimental equipment included a container for boiling water and a high-speed motion-picture camera. To eliminate the influence of gravity, these were mounted on a platform which was allowed to fall freely approximately 8 ft. During the free fall, photographs were taken of boiling from various surface configurations such as electrically heated horizontal and vertical ribbons. The heat flux was varied to produce conditions from moderate nucleate boiling to burnout. The results indicate that gravity plays a considerable role in the boiling process, especially in connection with the motion of vapor within the liquid.


Author(s):  
Wei Tong ◽  
Alireza Ganjali ◽  
Omidreza Ghaffari ◽  
Chady Alsayed ◽  
Luc Frechette ◽  
...  

Abstract In a two-phase immersion cooling system, boiling on the spreader surface has been experimentally found to be non-uniform, and it is highly related to the surface temperature and the heat transfer coefficient. An experimentally obtained temperature-dependent boiling heat transfer coefficient has been applied to a numerical model to investigate the spreader's cooling performance. It is found that the surface temperature distribution becomes less uniform with higher input power. But it is more uniform when the thickness is increased. By defining the characteristic temperatures that represent different boiling regimes on the surface, the fraction of the surface area that has reached the critical heat flux has been numerically calculated, showing that increasing the thickness from 1 mm to 6 mm decreases the critical heat flux reached area by 23% at saturation liquid temperatures. Therefore, on the thicker spreader, more of the surface is utilized for nucleate boiling while localized hot regions that lead to surface dry-out are avoided. At a base temperature of 90 oC, the optimal thickness is found to be 4 mm, beyond which no significant improvement in heat removal can be obtained. Lower coolant temperatures can further increase the heat removal; it is reduced from an 18% improvement in the input power for the 1 mm case to only 3% in the 6 mm case for a coolant temperature drop of 24 oC. Therefore, a trade-off exists between the cost of maintaining the low liquid temperature and the increased heat removal capacity.


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