Numerical investigation of single and multiple bubble condensing behaviors in subcooled flow boiling based on homogeneous mixture model

Abstract

Numerical investigations of the condensing behaviors of a single bubble and multiple bubbles under different subcooled flows were conducted using the compressible homogeneous mixture method. The surface tension between the liquid and vapor phases was determined using the continuous surface force method. An implicit dual-time technique was applied to solve the two-phase compressible flow model. A sensitivity study of the empirical coefficients used to access the predictive capacity of the existing mass transfer models was conducted. The numerical simulation results were compared with experimental data. The obtained results agreed well with the experimental results. Additionally, the bubble condensation behavior was investigated for different initial subcooled temperatures, bubble diameters, and velocities. Subsequently, the effect of multiple bubble interactions on their condensation was studied. The condensation rate of the lower bubbles increased compared to the other bubbles as a result of induced random perturbation. When the gap between the bubbles was large, a negligible amount of condensation occurred between the bubbles.