Simultaneous laser-induced fluorescence, particle image velocimetry and infrared thermography for the investigation of the flow and heat transfer characteristics of nucleating vapour bubbles

Abstract

Boiling is an effective heat removal process, used for heat exchange and thermal management purposes in many technological applications, from the scale of microelectronic devices to nuclear reactors. However, the physical mechanisms involved in this process are not fully understood yet due to the complexity that arises from the many interacting underlying sub-processes involved in the nucleation, growth and detachment of bubbles that occur during the process. Here, we present an advanced methodology based on combined, synchronized high-speed infrared (IR) thermometry, ratiometric two-colour laser-induced fluorescence (2cLIF) and particle image velocimetry (PIV), along with sample results of an experimental investigation conducted in deionized water, aimed at elucidating the mechanisms involved in the bubble lifecycle. IR thermometry is used to measure the time-dependent 2-D temperature and heat flux distributions over a boiling surface, and 2cLIF is used to measure the time-dependent temperature-field in a vertical plane, in the liquid phase around developing bubbles. Furthermore, PIV is used to measure the velocity fields around the bubbles, in the same plane as 2cLIF. The investigation reveals and allows us to quantify fundamental heat transfer aspects such as the contribution of triple contact line evaporation to the bubble growth process, the dynamics of the near-wall superheated liquid layer, the mixing effect produced by bubble growth and departure, convection effects around the bubble, and quenching heat transfer. Specifically, we observe that, in our experiment, with slowly growing bubbles, the microlayer does not form, and the evaporation at the solid-liquid-vapour contact line contributes to approximately one third of the total heat transferred to the bubble. We also observed that the fluid that rewets the dry spot at the bubble base, as the bubble departs from the boiling surface, comes from the near-wall superheated thermal boundary layer adjacent to the bubble, i.e., it is warmer than the fluid in the bulk. We confirm this finding by modelling this quenching heat transfer phase as a transient conduction process.