Bubble growth at nucleation cavity in microchannels

Abstract

Bubble dynamics i.e. bubble nucleation, growth and departure plays an important role in heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics during two phase flow of microchannels. A simplified mathematical model has been developed to predict the bubble growth rate in microchannels at nucleation cavity after its inception. It is assumed that heat supplied at nucleation site is divided between liquid phase and vapor phase as per instantaneous void fraction value. The energy consumed by vapor phase is utilized in overcoming evaporation, surface tension, inertia, shear and gravity effects. Proposed model shows good agreement (∼14 % error) with available experimental work. In addition, the physical phenomena of the bubble waiting time for flow boiling is also addressed utilizing proposed model. The waiting time predicted by the model is close to that obtained from experimental data. Copyright © 2013 by ASME.