Experimental study on bubble departure characteristics in subcooled nucleate pool boiling

The boiling models use departure diameter and frequency in closure relations for the calculation of nucleate boiling heat flux. These parameters are normally derived from empirical correlations which depend heavily on experiments. While these parameters are studied mostly for saturated conditions, there is not sufficient data for the values of departure diameter and frequency in subcooled boiling. In this work, the bubble departure characteristics, i.e. the departure diameters and frequency have been measured using high speed visualization experiments with subcooled demineralized water at atmospheric pressure for nucleate pool boiling conditions. The water pool dimensions were 300 mm × 135 mm × 250 mm with four different heating elements to carry out the parametric studies of bubble departure behavior. The considered parameters were heater surface roughness, heater geometry and heater inclination along with the experimental conditions like degree of subcooling (ΔT_sub = 5−20 K), superheat (ΔT_sat = 1−10 K) and the heat flux. The departure diameters and frequencies were directly measured from the images captured. It was intended to generate the subcooled nucleate pool boiling data under a wide range of conditions which are not present in the literature. The departure diameter was found to increase with the wall superheat, heater size and the inclination angle while the liquid subcooling and surface roughness produced a damping effect on the diameter. The departure frequency was found to increase with the wall superheat and the inclination angle, but decreases with an increase in the heater size. The frequency increases with the degree of subcooling except very close to the saturation, and is unaffected by the surface roughness beyond a certain superheat value.     

The bubble fossil record: insight into boiling nucleation using nanofluid pool-boiling

Subcooled pool boiling of Al₂O₃/water nanofluid (0.1 vol%) was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to observe surface features of the wire heater where nanoparticles had deposited. A layer of aggregated alumina particles collected on the heated surface, where evidence of fluid shear associated with bubble nucleation and departure was “fossilized” in the fluidized nano-porous surface coating. These structures contain evidence of the fluid forces present in the microlayer prior to departure and provide a unique understanding of boiling phenomena. A unique mode of heat transfer was identified in nanofluid pool boiling.     

A study of nucleate bubble growth on microstructured surface through high speed and infrared visualization

We studied bubble growth on a microstructured surface during nucleate boiling using optical high-speed and infrared (IR) cameras. The effects of structured surfaces on bubble growth and dynamics were examined and their role analyzed with the use of simple models. A smooth, bare surface was prepared, and four microstructured test sample surfaces were fabricated with microscale gaps ranging from 5 to 80 µm. The optical high-speed camera was used to observe the bubble growth profile with high temporal resolution; the IR camera was focused on the underside of the sample for direct visualization of the boiling process. Overall, the microstructured surfaces produced more bubbles, a lower frequency and nucleation site density than the bare surface for the low heat flux range (100–300 kW/m²), corresponding to the isolated bubble growth regime. The liberated bubble size was dependent on the size of the microstructure gap. Analysis of the high-speed images revealed that the liquid between the microstructures did not evaporate during bubble growth; however, during the initial growth stage, there was a brief period in which the liquid at the nucleation site evaporated. The large surface area and relatively high number of nucleation points contributed to enhanced bubble growth on the structured surfaces.     

Influence of surface topography in the boiling mechanisms

The present paper addresses the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the pool boiling heat transfer over micro-structured surfaces. The surfaces are made from silicon chips, in the context of pool boiling heat transfer enhancement of immersion liquid cooling schemes for electronic components. The first part of the analysis deals with the effect of the liquid properties. Then the effect of surface micro-structuring is discussed, covering different configurations, from cavities to pillars being the latter used to infer on the potential profit of a fin-like configuration. The use of rough surfaces to enhance pool boiling mainly stands on the arguments that the surface roughness will increase the liquid–solid contact area, thus enhancing the convection heat transfer coefficient and will promote the generation of nucleation sites. However, one should not disregard bubble dynamics. Indeed, the results show a strong effect of bubble dynamics and particularly of the interaction mechanisms in the overall cooling performance of the pair liquid–surface. The inaccurate control of these mechanisms leads to the formation of large bubbles and strong vertical and horizontal coalescence effects promote the very fast formation of a vapor blanket, which causes a steep decrease of the heat transfer coefficient. This effect can be strong enough to prevail over the benefit of increasing the contact area by roughening the surface. For the micro-patterns used in the present work, the results evidence that one can reasonably determine guiding pattern characteristics to evaluate the intensity of the interaction mechanisms and take out the most of the patterning to enhance pool boiling heat transfer, when using micro-cavities. Instead, it is far more difficult to control the appearance of active nucleation sites and the optimization of the patterns allowing a reasonable control of the interaction mechanisms and in particular of horizontal coalescence, when dealing with the patterns based on micro-pillars. Hence, providing an increase of the liquid contact area by an effective increase of the roughness ratio is not enough to assure a good performance of the micro-structured surface. Despite it was not possible to clearly evidence a pin–fin effect or of an additional cooling effect due to liquid circulation between the pillars, the results show a significant increase of the heat transfer coefficient of about 10 times for water and 8 times for the dielectric fluid, in comparison to the smooth surface, when the micro-patterning based on pillars is used.     

Bubble dynamics in microchannel: An overview of the state-of-the-art

The inception of the boiling, in a pool or flow boiling, is the formation of the vapor bubble at an active nucleation site that plays a crucial role in the boiling process and it becomes critical and unfolds many facets when channel size reduces to submicron. The detailed knowledge of the bubble dynamics is helpful in establishing the thermal and hydraulic flow behavior in the microchannel. In the current paper, bubble dynamics that include bubble nucleation at the nucleation site, its growth, departure, and motion along the flow in a microchannel(s) are discussed in detail. Different models developed for critical cavity radius favorable for bubble nucleation are compiled and observe that models exhibit large deviation. The bubble growth models are compiled and concluded that the development of a more generalize bubble growth model is necessary that would be capable of accounting for inertia controlled and thermal diffusion controlled regions. Bubbles at nucleation sites in a microchannel grow under the influence of various forces such as surface tension, inertia, shear, gravitational and evaporation momentum. Parametric analysis of these forces reckoned that the threshold between macro- to microchannel could be identify through critical analysis of such forces. Eventually, the possible impact of the various factors such as operating conditions, geometrical parameters, thermophysical properties of fluid on bubble dynamics in microchannel has been reported.

     

Simultaneous droplet impingement dynamics and heat transfer on nano-structured surfaces

This study examines the hydrodynamics and temperature characteristics of distilled deionized water droplets impinging on smooth and nano-structured surfaces using high speed (HS) and infrared (IR) imaging at We = 23.6 and Re = 1593, both based on initial drop impingement parameters. Results for a smooth and nano-structured surface for a range of surface temperatures are compared. Droplet impact velocity, transient spreading diameter and dynamic contact angle are measured. The near surface average droplet fluid temperatures are evaluated for conditions of evaporative cooling and boiling. Also included are surface temperature results using a gold layered IR opaque surface on silicon. Four stages of the impingement process are identified: impact, boiling, near constant surface diameter evaporation, and final dry-out. For the boiling conditions there is initial nucleation followed by severe boiling, then near constant diameter evaporation resulting in shrinking of the droplet height. When a critical contact angle is reached during evaporation the droplet rapidly retracts to a smaller diameter reducing the contact area with the surface. This continues as a sequence of retractions until final dry out. The basic trends are the same for all surfaces, but the nano-structured surface has a lower dissipated energy during impact and enhances the heat transfer for evaporative cooling with a 20% shorter time to achieve final dry out.     

Single bubble growth in saturated pool boiling of binary mixtures

Nucleate pool boiling experiments for binary mixtures, which are consisted of R11 and R113, were performed with constant wall temperature condition. Results for binary mixtures were also compared with pure fluids. A microscale heater array and Wheatstone bridge circuits were used to maintain the constant temperature of the heating surface and to obtain heat flow rate measurements with high temporal and spatial resolutions. Bubble growth images were captured using a high-speed CCD camera synchronized with the heat flow rate measurements.The departure time for binary mixtures was longer than that for pure fluids, and binary mixtures had a higher onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) temperature than pure fluids. In the asymptotic growth region, the bubble growth rate was proportional to a value between t^1/6 and t^1/4. The bubble growth behavior was analyzed to permit comparisons with binary mixtures and pure fluids at the same scale using dimensionless parameters. There was no discernible difference in the bubble growth behavior between binary mixtures and pure fluids for a given ONB temperature. And the departure radius and time were well predicted within a ±30% error.The minimum heat transfer coefficient of binary mixtures occurred near the maximum |y−x| value, and the average required heat flux during bubble growth did not depend on the mass fraction of R11 as more volatile component in binary mixtures. Finally, the results showed that for binary mixtures, a higher ONB temperature had the greatest effect on reducing the heat transfer coefficient.     

Electric field effects during nucleate boiling from an artificial nucleation site

An experimental study of saturated pool boiling from a single artificial nucleation site on a polished copper surface has been performed. Isolated bubbles grow and depart from the artificial cavity and the bubble dynamics are recorded with a high speed camera. Experimental results are obtained for bubble growth, departure and vertical rise both with and without the application of an electric field between an upper electrode and the boiling surface. As detailed in a previous paper from the same research group the high spatial and temporal resolution of the video sequences facilitated the development of a baseline experimental bubble growth law which predicts the bubble volumetric growth characteristics for a range of surface superheats at atmospheric pressure. The presence of an electric field has been found to positively augment the convective heat transfer over that of buoyant natural convection. Further to this, for high electric field strengths, the bubble shape, volumetric growth characteristics and bubble rise are different from that of the baseline cases. These results provide compelling evidence that electric fields can be implemented to alter the bubble dynamics and subsequent heat transfer rates during boiling of dielectric liquids.     

Heat transfer and bubble formation on horizontal copper tubes with different diameters and roughness structures

Heat transfer in flooded evaporators of the refrigeration, air conditioning or process industries is mainly enhanced by modifying the surface structure of evaporator tubes in the micro and/or macro range. To quantify the effect of such modifications, however, the influence of the basic roughness structure on the heated surface has to be separated. Starting from recent publications, experimental results of heat transfer and bubble formation from horizontal copper tubes with different outer diameters (8 or 25 mm) and roughness structures to various boiling liquids are analyzed in this paper to improve our knowledge of the specific events connected with the formation of bubbles at active nucleation sites and their effect on local heat transfer. It is shown that a single, standardized roughness parameter like the (integral) mean roughness height P _a is not sufficient to explain the effect of the heating surface structure on nucleate boiling heat transfer. Instead, detailed information on characteristic roughness parameters of the heated surfaces is necessary for the analysis, making it possible to define the size and form of cavities included in the roughness structure and their positions on the surface. An analysis that aims in this direction is given in a separate contribution to this special issue by A. Luke, who prepared the surfaces and provided the basic data on the set of standardized roughness parameters, the probability distributions of which are used in this paper.     

Photographic study of bubble dynamics for pool boiling of refrigerant R11

A digital photographic study of pool boiling with R11 was performed on a horizontal transparent heater at pressure at 0.1 MPa. A high-speed digital camera was applied to record the bubble behaviors of boiling process. The departure diameter, departure time, and nucleation site density at different heat flux were obtained. From the video images, it can be concluded that evaporation of microlayer is very important to the growth of bubble. It was also observed that there is not any liquid replenished into the microlayer below the bubble. In addition, bubble growth curve and dry-out area growth curve could be determined by analyzing the images. Based on the experimental result, boiling curve for R11 was predicted by using the dynamic microlayer model. As a result, the agreement between the predictions and the experiment data is good at high heat flux.     

Preparation and analysis of different roughness structures for evaporator tubes

The processes of the phase change in boiling occur at the solid–liquid interface by heat transfer from a solid heating surface to the boiling liquid. The characteristic features of the heating surfaces are therefore of great interest to optimize the design of evaporators. The microstructure with all its peaks and cavities influences directly the wetting and rewetting conditions of the heated surface by the boiling liquid and hence bubble formation and heat transfer. The roughness structures of different evaporator copper tubes with 8 or 25 mm diameter are characterized quantitatively with regard to the cavities offered to nucleation. The surfaces of the heating elements are sandblasted by different means resulting in a stochastic microstructure. The surfaces are investigated by a three-dimensional contactless roughness measurement technique combining the stylus technique with the near field acoustic microscopy. The method opens the possibility to obtain results according to standard for practical applications and additionally delivers detailed information about the three-dimensional shape of each cavity within the surface investigated. The analysis of the microstructure implies the total number of cavities, their local and size distribution calculated by the method of the envelope area. The results of the surface analysis are linked to those of heat transfer and bubble formation discussed in a contribution by Kotthoff and Gorenflo.     

Effects of the surface roughness on heat transfer of perpendicularly impinging co-axial jet

Current work presents the comparison of the cooling characteristics of roughened and smooth heated surfaces subjected to co-axial impinging jet. The work fluid is air and the data runs are performed for jet Reynolds numbers for 10,000, 20,000 and 40,000, and non-dimensional surface to jet exit spacing, H/D, from 1 to 10. The co-axial jet configuration is based on a fully developed pipe flow encountering a double-pipe arrangement and splitting between the two pipes. The inner to outer diameter ratio is 0.5. A straight pipe without inner section is used as the circular jet. The impingement of circular jets to the roughened and smooth surfaces is also performed for comparison. Average Nusslet numbers were obtained to show the heat transfer enhancement from the surface. A good agreement between the literature and present paper was obtained. As a result, average Nusselt number with co-axial jet impingement to the roughened surface increased by up to 27% comparing to the circular jet impingement. In addition, the average Nusselt number increased with roughened surface by up to 6% over the whole surface area, comparing to the smooth surface.     

Nucleate boiling heat transfer in aqueous solutions with carbon nanotubes up to critical heat fluxes

In this study, pool boiling heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) and critical heat fluxes (CHFs) are measured on a smooth square flat copper heater in a pool of pure water with and without carbon nanotubes (CNTs) dispersed at 60 °C. Tested aqueous nanofluids are prepared using multi-walled CNTs whose volume concentrations are 0.0001%, 0.001%, 0.01%, and 0.05%. For the dispersion of CNTs, polyvinyl pyrrolidone polymer is used in distilled water. Pool boiling HTCs are taken from 10 kW/m² to critical heat flux for all tested fluids. Test results show that the pool boiling HTCs of the aqueous solutions with CNTs are lower than those of pure water in the entire nucleate boiling regime. On the other hand, critical heat flux of the aqueous solution is enhanced greatly showing up to 200% increase at the CNT concentration of 0.001% as compared to that of pure water. This is related to the change in surface characteristics by the deposition of CNTs. This deposition makes a thin CNT layer on the surface and the active nucleation sites of the surface are decreased due to this layer. The thin CNT layer acts as the thermal resistance and also decreases the bubble generation rate resulting in a decrease in pool boiling HTCs. The same layer, however, decreases the contact angle on the test surface and extends the nucleate boiling regime to very high heat fluxes and reduces the formation of large vapor canopy at near CHF. Thus, a significant increase in CHF results in.     

2D lattice Boltzmann investigation of saturated pool boiling using a tunable surface tension model: Prandtl number effects on film boiling

In this paper, the saturated pool boiling is investigated using lattice Boltzmann method. The written FORTRAN code is validated in two aspects: For flow, the thermodynamic consistency test and Laplace law are applied and for heat transfer, the space- and time- averaged Nusselt number is compared with Berenson analytical solution in film boiling regime. In addition, the results of bubble generation and departure are compared with some well-known analytical solutions to show the accuracy of the code. It is confirmed that bubble departure diameter and the departure frequency are related to the gravity acceleration with powers of ? 0.505 and 0.709, respectively, which is in a very good agreement with the existing analytical expressions. The present model has the ability to tune different surface tensions independent of liquid/vapor density ratio, which was unreachable using other existing numerical models of boiling. Thus, the sole effects of surface tension on boiling can also be taken into consideration using the present model. It is also shown that the departure diameter is related to the surface tension with a power of 0.485, which is in good agreement with the analytical expressions. Temperature contours are shown together with flow lines to have a better viewpoint for studying the bubble’s behavior. An intensive temperature gradient is observed in the necking area at the departure time. All the four boiling regimes in the boiling curve are simulated under constant temperature boundary condition. The Prandtl number effects on vapor bubble dynamics in the film boiling regime are investigated using the improved Shan and Chen model for the first time. Results revealed that bubbles are more resistant to depart from the vapor blanket with increasing the Prandtl number.     

Effect of surface orientation on pool boiling heat transfer of nanoparticle suspensions

Several investigators have found that there is a significant effect of surface orientation on pool boiling performance and mechanisms, when a pure liquid is boiled over tubular heating surfaces. However, there is no similar study reported in literature for pool boiling of nanoparticle suspensions. This paper investigates the effect nanoparticles, suspended in pure liquids, can have on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer at various surface orientations. Systematic experiments were conducted on a smooth tube (average surface roughness 48 nm) of diameter 33 mm and length 170 mm at various inclinations (0°, 45° and 90°). Electro-statically stabilized water-based nanoparticle suspensions containing alumina nanoparticles (primary average sizes 47 nm and 150 nm) of concentrations 0.25%, 1% and 2% percent by weight were used. It has been found that there is a significant effect of surface orientation on the heat transfer performance. Horizontal orientation gave maximum heat transfer and the heating surface, when inclined at 45°, gave minimum heat transfer. Further, it was observed that surface–particle interaction and modified bubble motion can explain the behavior.     

Heterogeneous nucleation on ultra smooth surfaces

An experimental investigation is presented with heterogeneous nucleate boiling on ultra smooth metallic surfaces (30-365 nm RMS roughness), including brass, unpolished stainless steel, and electropolished stainless steel. The fluids used for the investigation are highly wetting pentane and butane. It is observed that the incipient superheat is low for all cases considered, despite the fact that no vapor trapping cavities are available for incipience at low superheat. These data provide further evidence that in addition to vapor trapping, another mechanism must be available for heterogeneous nucleation in boiling systems. The boiling curves are presented for the different surface/fluid combinations. It is found that the heat transfer rate on the brass surface is considerably better than that on the stainless steel surfaces due to the ease with which nucleation sites are formed. In contrast, nucleation site formation on stainless steel is considerably more sparse than that on brass.     

Experimental and numerical study on nucleate bubble deformation in subcooled flow boiling

Experimental and numerical study was conducted to investigate the bubble behaviors in subcooled flow nucleate boiling. The bubble behaviors in subcooled flow boiling in an upward annular channel were investigated in the range of subcooling degree 5–30 K by visualization with high spatial and temporal resolutions using a high speed video camera and Cassegrain tele-microscope. Obvious deformation on the upstream side surface of the bubble during its growth process was frequently observed. This deformation phenomenon was caused by the condensation occurring at the upstream side bottom of the bubble, which results from the Marangoni flow along the bubble surface from the bubble bottom to the top. Since the Marangoni flow cannot be directly observed by the current experiments because it occurs in a very thin interface along the bubble surface, the numerical simulations of bubble growth and departure behaviors in subcooled flow boiling were carried out. As a result, it was confirmed that the bubble deformation was caused by the Marangoni flow along the bubble surface. Moreover, the phenomenon of wave propagation on the bubble surface during the condensation process was observed, and it can enhance the heat transfer between the bubble and the surrounding subcooled liquid.     

Bubble growth in saturated pool boiling in water and surfactant solution

The presence of surfactant additives in water was found to enhance the boiling heat transfer significantly. The objective of the present investigation is to compare the bubble growth in water to that of a surfactant solution with negligible environmental impact. The study was conducted at two values of heat fluxes to clarify the effect of the heat flux on the dynamics of bubble nucleation. The bubble growth under condition of pool boiling in water and non-ionic surfactant solution was studied using high speed video technique. The bubble generation was studied on a horizontal flat surface; and the natural roughness of the surface was used to produce the bubbles.     

Pool boiling heat transfer of ultra-light copper foam with open cells

High speed visualizations and thermal performance studies of pool boiling heat transfer on copper foam covers were performed at atmospheric pressure, with the heating surface area of 12.0 mm by 12.0 mm, using acetone as the working fluid. The foam covers have ppi (pores per inch) from 30 to 90, cover thickness from 2.0 to 5.0 mm, and porosity of 0.88 and 0.95. The surface superheats are from −20 to 190 K, and the heat fluxes reach 140 W/cm². The 30 and 60 ppi foam covers show the periodic single bubble generation and departure pattern at low surface superheats. With continuous increases in surface superheats, they show the periodic bubble coalescence and/or re-coalescence pattern. Cage bubbles were observed to be those with liquid filled inside and vented to the pool liquid. For the 90 ppi foam covers, the bubble coalescence takes place at low surface superheats. At moderate or large surface superheats, vapor fragments continuously escape to the pool liquid.