Bubble Dynamics and Heat Transfer in Pool Boiling on Wires at Different Gravity

Abstract

A series of experimental studies on bubble dynamical behaviors and heat transfer in pool boiling on thin wires in different gravity conditions have been performed in the past years, including experiments in long-term microgravity aboard the 22nd Chinese recoverable satellite RS-22, in short-term microgravity in the drop tower Beijing, and in normal gravity on the ground. Steady pool boiling of degassed R113 on thin platinum wires has been studied using a temperature-controlled heating method. A voltage-controlled heating method has also been used in normal gravity. A slight enhancement of nucleate boiling heat transfer is observed in microgravity, while dramatic changes of bubble behaviors are very evident. Considering the influence of the Marangoni effects, the different characteristics of bubble behaviors in microgravity have been explained. A new bubble departure model including the influence of the Marangoni effects has also been proposed, which can predict the whole observation both in microgravity and in normal gravity. The value of CHF (critical heat flux) in microgravity is lower than that in normal gravity, but it can be predicted well by the Lienhard–Dhir correlation, although the dimensionless radius, or the square root of the Bond number, in the present case is far beyond its initial application range. A further revisit on the scaling of CHF with heater radius in normal gravity, which is focused on the case of a small Bond number, has also been performed in our laboratory using different kinds of working fluids at different subcooling conditions. Interactions between the influences of the subcooling and heater radius will be important for the case of a small Bond number. In addition to the Bond number, there may exist some other parameters, which may be material-dependent, that play important roles in the CHF phenomenon with a small Bond number.