Wall damage of cylindrical heat pipes caused by water freezing

Abstract

The paper presents the experimental results on mechanical damages caused by water freezing in water copper heat pipes. Novel transient temperature features during freezing and thawing are observed. These features are demonstrated to correlate with the amount of pipe bulging. A simple finite element model well reproduces the main transient features observed in the experiments. The results suggest that the main cause of damage is the excess water present at the bottom of the heat pipe. The minimum amount of excess fluid necessary for freezing-caused damage has being identified.