Heat transfer and two-phase flow during convective boiling in a partially-heated cross-ribbed channel

Abstract

Measured local heat transfer data and visual observations of the two-phase flow behavior are reported for convective boiling of saturated liquids in a cross-ribbed channel similar to geometries used in formed-plate compact heat exchangers. Experiments in this study were conducted using a special test section which permitted direct visual observation of the boiling process while simultaneously measuring the local heat transfer coefficient at several locations along the channel. One wall of the channel was heated while the opposite and lateral walls were adiabatic. Measured local heat transfer coefficients on the heated portion of the channel wall were obtained for convective boiling of methanol and n-butanol at atmospheric pressure with the channel oriented vertically and in horizontal positions with top heating, side heating and bottom heating of the channel. Vertical flows were observed to be in the churn or annular flow regimes over most of the channel length whereas the horizontal flows were either in the wavy or annular flow regime over most of the channel. Visual observations also indicated that virtually no nucleate boiling was present when the flow was in one of these three regimes. For the same coolant and flow conditions, at moderate to high qualities, the measured convective boiling heat transfer coefficients for the vertical and horizontal orientations were usually found to differ by only a small amount. However, for some orientations, partial dryout of the heated wall of the channel was sometimes observed to reduce the heat transfer coefficient. A method of correlating the heat transfer data for annular film-flow boiling in cross-ribbed channel geometries is also described.