Molecular dynamics simulation of explosive boiling of the H2O-Cu nanofluid

Abstract

In this paper, molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the effect of the Cu nanoparticle and wall surface wettability on the explosive boiling of H2O-Cu nanofluids. The influence of the nanoparticle wettability, the wall surface wettability and the size of nanoparticles on explosive boiling is analyzed. The results show that when the wall superheat is the same, the hydrophilic nanofluid will explode fastest on the hydrophilic surface. The nanoparticle enhances the heat transfer during the boiling process, and the enhancement is more significant on the hydrophobic surface. The increase in the wettability of the nanoparticle reduces the thermal resistance of the solid-liquid interface, thereby enhancing heat transfer. The potential energy of the solid-liquid interface increases with the decrease of the particle size, which also enhances the solid-liquid heat transfer capability. In addition, the temperature gradient, heat exchange and evaporation rate of the hydrophilic surface per unit time are greater than those of the hydrophobic surface.