Numerical investigation on bubble dynamics during pool nucleate boiling in presence of a non-uniform electric field by LBM

Abstract

Previous experimental studies proved that an external electric field could accelerate the detachment of vapor bubble. However, it was difficult to investigate the influencing mechanism of an electric field on bubble dynamics because of the limit of experimental technical methods. To solve this problem, a two-dimensional lattice Boltzmann model was developed in this paper to simulate the pool boiling in presence of an external electric field by coupling the pseudopotential model with phase-change model and electric field model. The growth and detachment of a single bubble on a horizontal wall during pool nucleate boiling with a non-uniform electric field was simulated. The influence of gravitational acceleration and electric field intensity on bubble dynamics was investigated in detail, and the influencing mechanism of an external electric field on bubble dynamics during pool nucleate boiling was analyzed. The numerical results showed that increasing electric filed intensity could decrease both bubble departure diameter and bubble release period. Decreasing gravitational acceleration could strengthen the influence of electric field intensity on bubble departure diameter and bubble release frequency. In other words, the non-uniform electric field established at present study could effectively reduce the possibility of heat transfer deterioration under microgravity.