Open Access

ARTICLE

Analysis of Bubble Behavior in a Horizontal Rectangular Channel under Subcooled Flow Boiling Conditions

Ke Sun, Xiaoyu Hu, Da Li, Guodong Zhang, Kui Zhao, Haiyang Zhao, Shuzhan Bai^*

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China

* Corresponding Author: Shuzhan Bai. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Recent Advances in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2021, 17(1), 81-95. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2021.013895

Received 26 August 2019; Accepted 04 August 2020; Issue published 09 February 2021

Abstract

Experiments on subcooled flow boiling have been conducted using water in a rectangular flow channel. Similar to the coolant channel in internal combustion engines (IC engines), the flow channel in this experiment was asymmetrically heated. Bubble images were captured using a high speed camera from the side view of the channel. The experimental conditions in terms of bulk temperature, bulk velocity, pressure and heat flux ranged from 65°C–75°C, 0.25 m/s–0.75 m/s, 1–1.7 bar and 490 kW/m²–700 kW/m², respectively. On the basis of these tests, a statistical analysis of the bubble size has been conducted considering a population of 1400 samples. It has been found that the mean Sauter bubble diameter increases with the decrease of subcooling, bulk velocity, pressure and increased heat flux. A modified correlation has been finally proposed to predict the mean Sauter bubble diameter under subcooled flow boiling conditions upstream of the onset of significant void, which shows good accuracy with the experimental results.

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Keywords

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