Saturday, October 15, 2011

Boiling heat transfer

        Heat transfer in boiling fluids is complex but of considerable technical importance. It is characterized by an s-shaped curve relating heat flux to surface temperature difference (see say Kay & Nedderman 'Fluid Mechanics & Transfer Processes', CUP, 1985, p529).
     
         At low driving temperatures, no boiling occurs and the heat transfer rate is controlled by the usual single-phase mechanisms. As the surface temperature is increased, local boiling occurs and vapour bubbles nucleate, grow into the surrounding cooler fluid, and collapse. This is sub-cooled nucleate boiling and is a very efficient heat transfer mechanism.
   
           At high bubble generation rates the bubbles begin to interfere and the heat flux no longer increases rapidly with surface temperature (this is the departure from nucleate boiling DNB). At higher temperatures still, a maximum in the heat flux is reached (the critical heat flux). The regime of falling heat transfer which follows is not easy to study but is believed to be characterised by alternate periods of nucleate and film boiling. Nucleate boiling slowing the heat transfer due to gas phase {bubbles} creation on the heater surface, as mentioned, gas phase thermal conductivity is much lower than liquid phase thermal conductivity, so the outcome is a kind of "gas thermal barrier".
  
           At higher temperatures still, the hydro dynamically quieter regime of film boiling is reached. Heat fluxes across the stable vapor layers are low, but rise slowly with temperature. Any contact between fluid and the surface which may be seen probably leads to the extremely rapid .
 
Definitions/Terminology
 Saturation temperature (Tsat ) - boiling point temperature at prevailing pressure. In case of a mixture this will be bubble point temperature
 
Superheat - Excess temperature over the5 saturation value (T - Tsat);6 Wall superheat = (Twall - Tsat)7 Subcooling = (Tsat - T )8 Quality: Vapour phase mass fraction, ratio of9 vapour flowrate to the total flow rate.

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