Coalescence-Induced Bubble Departure in Microgravity: Effect of Number of Bubbles
摘要
Boiling is a very efficient mode of heat transfer that is crucial to many technical processes and applications. Heat transfer during boiling relies on the bubble departure. Accordingly, various studies have been performed to investigate bubble departure to model and predict the heat transfer during boiling. Various models and empirical correlations have been developed; however, they are valid only over a limited range of parameters, beyond which they are unable to predict heat transfer. Despite numerous efforts, boiling is still not well understood. This is primarily due to the involvement of various physical parameters and hidden mechanisms that govern the boiling process. One such hidden mechanism is coalescence-induced bubble departure, which usually remains hidden due to the prevailing buoyancy in terrestrial gravity conditions. Microgravity condition offers an ideal condition to study such hidden mechanism in detail due to the absence of buoyancy. In this work, we demonstrate coalescence-induced bubble departure from the heated substrate in shear flow in microgravity condition. Dynamics of two-bubble and three-bubble coalescence is investigated. Dynamics of coalescence is similar in both the cases before departure/lift-off from the substrate; however, in spite of similar bubble departure diameter there is a significant difference between the departure velocity and jumping height. This is primarily due to the difference in the conversion of excess surface energy into the kinetic energy required for departure. This suggests that by increasing the number of bubbles, the coalescence-induced departure can be made more effective. The physical insights presented in this work are of significant importance to the design of multiphase energy systems for terrestrial and space applications.