Boiling

1
Liquid-Vapor transformation – BOILING
TL > Tsat at a given pressure

Vapor-Liquid transformation – CONDENSATION

Tv < Tsat at a given pressure

Boiling and Condensation (Convection)

 Latent Heat of Vaporization
 Surface Tension of the liquid-vapor interface
 Properties of the fluid in each phase

2
Typical values of the convection heat transfer coefficient

Process h
W/m2.K

Free convection
Gases 2-25
Liquids 50-1000

Forced convection
Gases 25-250
Liquids 50-20,000

Convection with phase change 2500-100,000

Boiling and Condensation

3
Boiling: the process of addition of heat to a liquid
such a way that generation of vapor occurs.

Evaporation Air
Evaporation
occurs at the liquid-vapor interface
Pv < Psat of the liquid at a given temp

Water
evaporation involves no bubble
20° C formation or bubble motion

4
Boiling Boiling occurs at a solid-liquid
Water
100°C
interface occurs at a solid-
liquid interface
Heating

Boiling occurs when a liquid is

P = 1 atm

brought into contact with a

surface at a temperature above
Water
Tsat = 100°C
Bubbles
110°C
the saturation temperature of
Heating element
the liquid

5
 Qboiling = h (Tw – Tsat) W/m2

Free and Forced convection depends on

• density, specific heat, viscosity and thermal conductivity of the
fluid

Boiling Heat Transfer depends on

• density, specific heat, viscosity and thermal conductivity of liquid
• Latent heat of vaporization
• Surface tension at the liquid-vapor interface

6
Bubbles exist because of the surface tension at the
liquid vapor interface due to the attraction force on
molecules at the interface toward the liquid phase.

Surface tension ↓ ↑ Temperature

Surface tension = 0 at critical temperature
No bubbles at supercritical pressures and temperatures

7
BOILING
• Pool Boiling
• Flow Boiling (Forced Convection Boiling

POOL BOILING:
The fluid is stationary
Motion of the fluid is due to
natural convection currents

Heating Motion of the bubbles under the

influence of buoyancy.
Pool Boiling

8
 Flow boiling
Fluid is forced to move in a heated
pipe or surface by external means such
as pump

Heating
Flow boiling is always accompanied by
other convection effects.

Pool and Flow Boiling is classified as

• Subcooled Boiling
• Saturated Boiling

9
 P = 1 atm

Subcooled Boiling
Subcooled water 80° C Tbulk of liquid < Tsat
107° C Bubble

Heating

Saturated Boiling
Tbulk of liquid > Tsat
Saturated water 100° C

107° C Bubble

Heating 10
 BOILING REGIMES AND BOILING CURVE
Nukiyama – 1934
Boiling Regimes
 Natural Convection Boiling
 Nucleate Boiling
 Transition Boiling
 Film Boiling

11
 Typical Boiling Curve for water at 1 atm pressure
Natural convection Nucleate Transition Film
boiling boiling boiling boiling

Bubbles Maximum .

Collapse (critical) heat flux q max

in the C
106 liquid E

.
q boiling W m 2
105
B

104 D
A Bubbles rise
to the free Leidenfrost point,
surface

103
~5 10 ~30 100 ~120 1000

∆T = Ts − Tsat °C
 Natural convection Boiling
Governed by natural convection currents
Heat transfer from the heating surface to the
100° C fluid is by natural convection
103° C

Heating

Natural convection Nucleate Boiling

boiling
The stirring and agitation caused by the entrainment of
the liquid to the heater surface is primarily responsible
for the increased heat transfer coefficient and heat flux
100° C in the region of nucleate boiling.

High heat transfer rates are achieved in

110° C

Heating nucleate boiling

Nucleate boiling

13
 Transition Boiling (Unstable film boiling)
Heat flux decreases because of larger fraction
100° C of heater surface is covered by a vapor film
180° C which acts as a insulation because of the low
thermal conductivity of the vapor relative to
Heating
Vapour pockets the liquid

Film Boiling
The presence of a vapor film between the
heater surface and the liquid is responsible for
the low heat transfer rates
Heat transfer rate increases with increasing
100° C

400° C
excess temperature as a result of heat transfer
Heating from the heated surface to the liquid through
the vapor film by radiation, which becomes
Vapour film

significant at higher temperatures. 14

Various boiling regimes during boiling of methanol
on a horizontal 1-cm-diameter steam-heated
copper tube

a. Nucleate boiling
b. Transition boiling
c. Film boiling

15
 1. Natural convection Onset of boiling

2. Individual bubble regime 3. Regime of slugs and bubble

4. Transition film boiling 5. Stable film boiling 16

 Bubble nucleation – Boiling Inception
The process of bubble formation is called nucleation

Trapped pockets of gas

Liquid

Rough wall

Enlarged view of a boiling surface

The cracks and crevices do not, of themselves, constitute nucleation
sites for the bubbles: they must also contain pockets of gas, probably
air trapped when the vessel was filled with the liquid. It is from these
pockets of trapped air that the vapor bubbles begin to grow during
nucleate boiling 17
 HEAT TRANSFER IN NUCLEATE BOILING

Nu = f (Re, Pr)
hL ρ f uL µ f C Pf
Nu = ; Re = ; Pr =
kf µf kf
Velocity is taken as the liquid velocity in towards the surface which is
to supply the vapour which is being produced, so
q′′
u~
h fg ρ f
Length scale is taken to be
1
 σ 2
L~ 
 g ( ρ f − ρ g )  18
During boiling, disturbances of all wavelengths are present, there will
be some disturbances at small wavelength and long wavelength that
will amplify and cause the interface to be unstable.
Condition for the interface instability of a motionless liquid overlaying
a motionless vapour region

1
( ρ f − ρ g )g  2
α > αc =  
 σ 
This condition is called Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
CRITICAL WAVENUMBER
p = 1 bar; σ = 0.058988 N/m
1
 σ 2 ρf = 958.63; ρg = 0.59034 kg/m3
Lc = 2π  
 g ( ρ f − ρ g )  Lc = 16 mm
19
 1 1
hL h  σ 2 ρ f uL ρ f q′′  σ 2 µ f C Pf
Nu = =   ; Re = =   ; Pr =
k f k f  g ( ρ f − ρ g )  µf µ f h fg ρ f  g ( ρ f − ρ g )  kf

1 1− n −m
Nu = Re Pr
C sf
C pf (Tw − Tsat )
n 1+ m
 q′′ σ   C pf µ f 
= C st    
h fg  µ f h fg g ( ρ f − ρ g )   k f 
n = 0.33 and 1+m = 1 for water and 1.7 for other fluids
Cst is the surface-fluid constant. It depends on both the surface and the fluid. Typical values
are between 0.0025 and 0.015.
For a given ∆Tsat, the heat flux is proportional to (Cst )-3. Since Cst can vary by a factor of 10, the
heat flux can vary by a factor of 1000

APPLICABLE ONLY FOR CLEAN SURFACES 20

 100

101 kPa
80
2600 kPa
5300 kPa
 q′′ σ  8300 kPa

  11000 kPa
 µ f h fg g ( ρ f − ρ g )  60 17000 kPa

40
X = 0.013Y 0.33
C sf = 0.013

20

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
C pf (Tw − Tsat )
h fg Pr
Correlation of pool boiling heat transfer data for water by the method of Rohsenow

21
The most important variables affecting Cst are
•Surface roughness of the heater which determines the number of
nucleation sites at a given temperature
•Angle of contact between the bubble and heating surface
which is a measure of measure of wettability of a surface with
a particular fluid.

Liquid Liquid Liquid

Vapor Vapor Vapor

θ θ
θ

Not wetted Partially wetted Totally wetted

Effect of surface Wettability on the bubble contact angle θ

22
 Values of the coefficient Csf for various liquid-surface
combinations
Fluid-heating Surface Combination Csf
Water on Scored copper 0.0068
Water on emery-polished copper 0.0128
Water-copper 0.0130
Water-brass 0.0060
Water on Teflon coated stainless steel 0.0058
Water- platinum 0.0130
n-Pentane on lapped copper 0.0049
n-Pentane on emery-rubbed copper 0.0074
n-Pentane - chromium 0.0150
Isopropyl alcohol-copper 0.00225
Ethyl alcohol-copper 0.00305
Carbon tetrachloride-copper 0.0130
Benzene - chromium 0.0100
50% k2CO3-copper 0.00275
23
35% k2CO3-copper 0.0054
 CRITICAL HEAT FLUX IN NUCLEATE BOILING
• Rohsenow correlation is restricted to nucleate boiling
• Does not reveal the excess temperature at which the heat flux reaches a maximum or what
value of this flux is when nucleate boiling breaks down and an insulating vapor film forms
• For a heat flux controlled surface, the temperature rise when the critical heat flux is
exceeded can be very large (sometimes more than 1000 K)

qc′′ = C cr h fg ρ 0.5
g [σ (ρ f − ρg g ) ] 0.25

L* L  g ( ρ l − ρ v σ ) 
12
=
Dimensionless parameter
Heater Geometry Ccr Charac. Dimension of Range of L*
Heater, L
Large horizontal flat plate 0.149 Width or diameter L* >27

Small horizontal flat plate 18.9 K1 Width or diameter 9 < L* <20

Large horizontal cylinder 0.12 Radius L* >1.2

Small horizontal cylinder 0.12L*-0.25 Radius 0.15 < L* <1.2

Large sphere 0.11 Radius L* >4.26

Small sphere 0.277L*-0.5 Radius 0.15 < L* <4.2624

LEIDENFROST TEMPERATURE

( )
1
σ g ρ f − ρ g 4
ϕc φmin = C h fg ρ g  
 ( ρ f − ρ g ) 
2
ϕ (log scale)

Film

C is a non-dimensional constant which

boiling

ϕmin lies between 0.09 and 0.18;

ΔTmin 0.13 is sometimes taken as an
intermediate value.
ΔTsat (log scale)

25
Rewetting of Hot Surfaces
Liquid does not wet hot surface.
Ex: A drop of water on a hot, horizontal plate will ‘run’ around in a chaotic manner and
evaporate only slowly.
This occurs because the liquid is separated from the plate by a thin film of vapor (Fig. ) so
that the friction for sideways motion of the drop is very small and the heat transfer across
the vapor film is poor.
The vapor film, of course moves outwards, and fresh vapor is generated by evaporation at
the underside of the drop due to heat conduction across the film and radiation from the
plate to the drop.
If the plate is allowed to cool down, it will eventually reach a temperature at which the vapor
film collapses, and then very intense boiling takes place which rapidly leads to the
evaporation of all the liquid. The surface temperature at which this sudden wetting of the
plate occurs is the LEIDENFROST TEMPERATURE .

Liquid drop

Vapour film

Hot surface
26
 FILM BOILING

Vapour film Liquid

d
Liquid
Hot surface

Vapour film

Properties at temperature
( )
1
 ρg ρ f − ρ g g h′fg k g3  4
h = 0.62   ∆Tsat
µ g ∆Tsat d T = Tw −
  2
  C pg ∆T  
h′fg = h fg  1 + 0.68    Effective latent heat of vapourisation
  h   allowing for the effect of superheat
  fg  27
Taking the example for steam-water at 1 bar, for which
Tsat = 100° C;Tw = 700° C;∆Tsat = 600° C;hfg = 2256000 J/kg
kg = 0.046 W/m.K;µg = 21 × 10-6 Pa.s;ρg = 0.32 kg/m3;
ρf = 1000 kg/m3; d = 0.02 m
physical properties are evaluated at 400° C. Then from above eqn,
h = 142 W/m2.K and so q” = h ∆Tsat = 85000 W/m2

C
B
ϕc
( )
1
 ρg ρ f −ρ g g h′fg k g3 4 Heat flux
h = 0.62  
 µ g ∆Tsat d  A

ΔTsat

Critical heat flux for water at 1 bar is around 1.25 MW/m2 So, although the tube is very
hot, it is carrying only a fraction of the critical heat flux. So we around point A on the
boiling curve (See Fig.12). The point C, which has the same heat flux as at point B, can be
found. The temperature at C will be so high that radiative heat transfer is very important
28
 3
htotal = h film boiling + a hradiative ; a=
4
 Tw4 − Tsat
4  ε = surface emissivity
hradiative = σ ε  

 Tw − Tsat  σ = 5.67 × 10-8 W/m2.K4

29
 COMPLETION OF THE BOILING CURVE
B

The transition boiling region is the

main region not yet considered.
Actually comparatively little is
ϕ (log scale)

known, and one assumption made is

C that the transition boiling line (B to
C) is the straight line connecting B
and C when plotted (as above) on a
log-log graph.
(Idealized)
A

ΔTsat (log scale)

Upto A Natural convection heat transfer

A Onset of natural convection boiling
A to B Nucleate boiling heat transfer
B Critical heat flux
B to C Transition boiling
C Minimum film boiling temperature
C onwards Film boiling 30
 Pool boiling curve of Benzene at 1 bar presure
(sat temp = 80 deg C or 353 K)

1000000
A Onset of natural
convection boiling
A to Nucleate boiling heat
B transfer
100000
B Critical heat flux

Heat Flux (W/m2)

B to Transition boiling
C
C Minimum film boiling 10000
temperature
C Film boiling
onwa
rds
1000

100
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000
DT(sat) 31