Chapter 11 Boiling

(Material presented in this chapter are based on those in Chapter 10, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, Fifth Edition by Incropera and DeWitt) In this chapter, the process of heat transfer during phase change of a uid will be characterized. Such a heat transfer occurs at the solid-liquid interface. One such example is boiling which results in a phase change of a liquid to its vapor state. In these cases the latent heat involved are signicant. As a result there will be density dierence between the two phases. Buoyancy forces will then make the vapor phase (which is lighter) will rise in the liquid phase. As the boiling process involves uid motion, it is classied under convection. Boiling heat transfer coecients and rates are typically much larger than those just due to convection eects. The governing equations in most cases are dicult to solve and only correlations are available.

11.1

Mechanism

When evaporation occurs at the solid-liquid interface, the process is termed as boiling. This process typically occurs when the temperature of the surface Ts exceeds the saturation temperature Tsat corresponding to the liquid pressure. Heat is transferred from the solid surface to the liquid. First vapor bubbles are formed. These bubbles will grow and subsequently detach from the surface. The bubble growth and dynamics depend on the excess temperature, the nature of the surface, and the uid thermophysical properties. The bubble formation induces and enhances uid motion near the surface of the solid and so strongly inuence the heat transfer coecients. 159

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CHAPTER 11. BOILING

11.2

Classication

Boiling is typically characterized into two main types, viz. Pool boiling and forced convection boiling. Pool boiling is one in which the uid remains quiescent and the motion near the surface occurs due to free convection. Forced convection boiling is one in which the uid is forced to ow. Boiling can also be classied based on the temperature of the liquid as compared to its saturation temperature. If the liquid temperature is slightly below the saturation temperature, then the boiling is called sub-cooled boiling. Whereas, when the temperature is above the saturation temperature, it is called saturated boiling.

11.3

Pool boiling: Dierent regimes or modes

Consider the case where a liquid is contained in a container whose sides of the container is insulated and at-bottom is being heated with heat ux qs . Initially the temperature increases slowly and then very rapidly with excess temperature. Suppose if the temperature of the surface can be controlled, depending on the temperature dierence Te = Ts Tsat , where Ts is the at-bottom surface temperature and Ts at is the saturation temperature. Dierent regimes of the pool boiling is presented in Fig. (11.1).

11.3.1

Free convection boiling

Free convection boiling generally exists when Te < Te,A 5o C . Minimal bubbling is observed in this region. Besides there will be temperature gradients in the liquid which will cause free convection. Therefore, heat transfer is only due to free convection in this regime, which spans till point A in Fig. (11.1). As the temperature dierence is increased, the heat transfer coecient will also increase. The correlations obtained in the Natural Convection chapter can be used to estimate the heat transfer coecients in this regime.

11.3.2

Nucleate boiling

As Te is further increased, nucleate boiling sets in. From point A to point B in Fig. (11.1), reasonable bubbling will occur. Bubbling will introduce some

11.3. POOL BOILING: DIFFERENT REGIMES OR MODES

161

Figure 11.1: Boiling curve mixing of the uid near the surface. This will lead to an increase in the heat transfer in this region. However, when Te is increased even further, that is, between points B and C, signicant bubbling will occur and the bubbles coalesce and the move to the top surface and the vapor will leave the surface of the liquid that is in contact with, say, air. Due to coalescence of bubbles, jet streams of vapors can be observed in this region. Due to formation of large number of bubbles, there will be an increase in the heat transfer coecient from points A to B in Fig. (11.1) and a direct heat transfer from the surface to the liquid. In the region between points B and C, the formation of jets and transport of vapor through the liquid will aid this increase. Therefore, heat transfer coecient will continue to increase, but only till a certain point at which the curve has an inection point. At the inection point, heat transfer coecient reaches a maximum. But, further increase in Te will oset the decrease in the heat transport coecient, h and hence the ux will continue to increase till qs = qmax .

11.3.3

Transition region

As Te is further increased, that is between points C and D in Fig. (11.1), the boiling liquid bubble will continously coalsece and split and will tend to form a lm on the surface. The vapor phase will continously switch between

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CHAPTER 11. BOILING

the lm and bubble formation. This is an unstable boiling situation and is called the transition region. Note that the fraction of the total surface covered with the vapor phase will continue to increase with temperature. As the thermal conductivity of the vapor phase is much smaller than the liquid phase, the heat transfer coecient and the heat ux must decrease with increase in Te until a minima is reached. This minimum heat ux is called the Leidenfrost point.

11.3.4

Film boiling

At point D in Fig. (11.1) the heat ux is minimum and the surface at this point is completely covered with vapor blanket to form a lm. Heat transfer from the surface to the liquid after point D is only due to conduction and radiation through the vapor lm phase. As the temperature is further increased, radiation through the lm increases resulting in the increase of heat ux with increasing Te .

11.4

Boiling operation

In order to boil a liquid eciently, it is important to avoid the transition region. Therefore, a good strategy for boiling operation is to control both the temperature and the ux of heat supplied to the system. Till the maxima, that is, point C in Fig. (11.1), the temperature can be increased gradually, at point C, in order to avoid transition region, it is best to switch to a constant ux conditions leading to continous increase in the surface temperature till point E is reached on the boiling curve (Fig. 11.1).

11.5

Pool boiling correlations

In the free convection regime, correlations developed in the free convection chapter can be used to nd the appropriate heat transfer coecients. In the nucleate boiling regime, Rohsenow correlation given by qs = l hf g g (l v )
1 2

Cpl Te Cs,f hf g P rln

(11.1)

can be used to nd the heat ux required for the boiling at a certain Te . hf g is the latent heat of vaporization and the coecient Cs,f and exponent

11.6. FORCED CONVECTION BOILING

163

n depends on the type of interface. The maximum ux, which also depends on the geometry is given by
qmax

g (l v ) = hf g v 24 2 v

1 4

l + v l

1 2

(11.2)

There are no correlations available for the transition region. However, the Leidenfrost point can be found using the correlation qmin = Cv hf g g (l v ) (l + v )2
1 4

(11.3)

In the lm boiling regime, the correlations are typically based on the condensation theory and for cylinders and spheres, the Nusselt number is given by 1 conv D h g (l v )h f g D 4 N uD = =C (11.4) kv v kv (Ts Tsat ) where, h f g accounts for latent heat and sensible heat and is given by h f g = h f g + 0.8Cp,c (Ts Tsat ) (11.5)

Under high temperature conditions, radiation is important. The overall heat transfer coecient that accounts for both conduction and radiation is given by 4 4 1 3 3 conv rad h 3 h =h +h (11.6) rad = where h
4 T 4 ) (Ts sat . Ts Tsat

If

rad h conv h

< 1 then (11.7)

=h conv + 3 h rad h 4

11.6

Forced convection boiling

In the case of pool boiling, the uid ow due to boiling is only due to natural convection. However, in the case of forced convection boiling, the uid ow is due to bulk motion of the uid and natural convection. The conditions in this case will strongly depend on the geometry of the surface. For the case of external ow upto the inception of the boiling, the forced convection correlations can be used. However, in the nucleate boiling regime,

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CHAPTER 11. BOILING

the, for liquid moving cross ow over a cylinder, the corresponding correlations at low-velocity ow is
qmax 1 = 1+ v hf g V

4 W eD

1 3

(11.8)

and at high-velocity ow is
qmax (l /v ) 4 (l /v ) 2 = + 1 v hf g V 169 3 19.2W eD
2 3 1

(11.9)

D which is the ratio of inertial to surface tension forces. where W eD = v V High velocity ow is said to exist when 0.275 qmax < v hf g V

l v

1 2

+1

(11.10)

otherwise low-velocity ow exists.