An analysis of a Three-Region conduction controlled rewetting of hot surface by Variational Method

Abstract

When the liquid comes in contact with a sufficiently hot surface, a stable vapor blanket is formed between solid-liquid interface, this significantly reduces the heat transfer rate between liquid and solid interface because of the poor conduction through the vapour layer. As the process continues the surface cools off and the vapor blanket collapses, consequently, the liquid wets the hot surface and this phenomenon is termed as rewetting. The phenomena of rewetting has been observed in many industrial and scientific applications such as emergency core cooling of fuel pins during loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in nuclear reactor, mettalurgical processing and cryogenic chill down during refueling of space transfer vehicles. Copyright © 2014 by ASME.