Pool boiling of distilled water over tube bundle with variable heat flux

Abstract

The experimental investigation of saturated pool boiling heat transfer of distilled water over plain tube bundle, under uniform and varying heat flux condition along the height are presented in this article. Experiments are carried out under various heat flux configurations applied to rows of tube bundles and pitch distance to diameter ratios of 1.25, 1.6 and 1.95. The wall superheats and pool boiling heat transfer coefficients over individual rows are determined. The pool boiling heat transfer coefficients for variable heat flux and uniform heat flux conditions are compared. The results indicate that the bundle effect is found to exist for uniform as well as variable heat flux under all operating conditions in the present investigation. The variable heat flux resulted in range of wall superheat being highest for decreasing heat flux from bottom to top and lowest for increasing heat flux from bottom to top.