Numerical analysis of the influence of surface tension and rougnhess on the vapor bubble growth mechanism

Abstract

In general, this project deals with the theoretical and numerical study of the heat transfer mechanisms in the nucleate boiling regime by developing a numerical model that addresses the conditions of the heating surface and the heat transfer in the vicinity of a vapor bubble during its steps of growth and departure. The influence of the surface conditions and the surface-fluid interaction on the vapor bubble dynamics will be analyzed in terms of surface roughness and surface tension, respectively. It will consider a front tracking method, which consists of a combination of the level set (LS) and the fluid of volume (VOF) method. A classical Galerkin finite element method (Galerkin-fem), stabilized by the Characteristic-based split scheme (CBS), will be applied for discretization of the governing equations of the problem. The comparison with experimental data obtained by the research group and by other researchers will used to validate the numerical model. Thus, by using computational simulations, it will be possible to develop a more in-depth study of the heat transfer mechanisms present in the boiling phenomenon.