Explosive collapse of vapor film under conditions of intensive heat fluxes

Abstract

The stability is investigated (linear and nonlinear analysis) of the interface between a thin vapor film and a layer of liquid in the presence of a steady heat flux from a metal surface heated to a high temperature to the vapor film and then from vapor to subcooled liquid. In view of thermal disequilibrium which takes into account the temperature dependence of saturation pressure, boundary conditions on the vapor-liquid interface are derived, which generalize the known correlations on the free surface of liquid in the gravity field. A number of new effects arise in the problem under consideration, as distinct from the classical problem. The thermal processes, which occur on the phase boundary and are possible in the absence of the force of gravity as well, lead to the generation of weakly decaying periodic waves of low amplitude, whose velocity may exceed significantly that of gravity waves. The heat flux through the interface may cause on this surface periodic waves of small length (ripple) which are not capillary. The processes of phase transition on the interface are capable of providing for the stability of vapor film under the layer of liquid in the gravity field. Along with periodic waves and solitons, the mode of explosive instability may arise in the nonlinear stage because of a weak variation of the film thickness, where the amplitude of an initially low-amplitude plane wave rises to infinity during a finite period of time.