Experimental study on bubble dynamics and heat transfer of pool boiling at sub-atmospheric pressures

Abstract

Pool boiling, as an efficient phase-change heat transfer method, has attracted extensive attention in recent years. However, the bubble dynamics behavior (BDB) and heat transfer characteristics of pool boiling at sub-atmospheric pressure (sub-ATM) are significantly different from those at or above standard atmospheric pressure (std-ATM). This paper presents experimental results of BDB and heat transfer characteristics of pool boiling at sub-ATM in the range of 30–120 kPa. High-speed backlight imaging technique was adopted. The results show that with the decrease of boiling pressure, the diameter and near circularity coefficient of bubble departure increase, and the frequency and aspect ratio decrease. With the decline in pressure, the critical heat flux (CHF) of pool boiling on the surface of the electric heater decreases. Specifically, the CHF at 120 kPa is 23.2% higher than that at 40 kPa. At sub-ATM, the boiling heat transfer coefficient (HTC) grows with the increase of liquid height. However, the HTC hardly changes with liquid height at std-ATM and higher.