Experimental investigation of circular free-surface jet impingement quenching: Transient hydrodynamics and heat transfer

An experimental study of heat transfer during quenching of a cylindrical stainless steel test specimen has been performed. A subcooled water jet is directed onto the upward facing flat face of the cylinder. The test specimen is heated to an initial temperature slightly above 900 °C and then quenched. The resulting boiling curves and heat transfer distributions are presented for impingement velocities of 2.85 and 6.4 m/s (Re = 7900 and 18,900). High-speed imaging shows that three distinct regions on the quenched surface can be identified: an expanding circular wetted region surrounding the impinging point, annular transition zone just outside the wetting front, and a unwetted region outside this zone. The free-surface of the liquid in the wetted region is smooth in the nucleate and transition boiling regimes. The annular transition zone or the wetting front region outside the wetted region is characterized by a highly disturbed liquid-gas interface, which can be attributed to intense vapor generation. At the outer edge of the transition zone, the liquid is deflected away from the surface. The velocity of the wetting front significantly increases with the jet impact velocity, which indicates that the wetting front position is governed by the ability of the flowing liquid to transport the bubbles radially outwards from the wetted region.