Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
Lecture Six
Heat Transfer in Boiling
In the previous chapter we have discussed about the convective heat transfer in which the homogeneous
single phase system was considered. The heat transfer processes associated with the change of fluid phase
have great importance in chemical process industries. In this chapter, we will focus our attention towards
the phase change from liquid to vapor and vice-versa. We know from thermodynamics that when the
temperature of a liquid at a specified pressure is raised to the saturation temperature Tsat at that pressure,
boiling occurs. Likewise, when the temperature of a vapor is lowered to Tsat, condensation occurs. In this
chapter we study the rates of heat transfer during such liquid-to-vapor and vapor-to-liquid phase
transformations. Boiling and condensation differ from other forms of convection in that they depend on
the latent heat of vaporization ( hfg ) of the fluid and the surface tension ( σ ) at the liquid–vapor interface,
in addition to the properties of the fluid in each phase.
1- Introduction.
Evaporation occurs at the liquid–vapor
interface when the vapor pressure is less than
the saturation pressure of the liquid at a given
temperature. Water in a lake at 20°C, for
example, evaporates to air at 20°C and 60
percent relative humidity since the saturation
pressure of water at 20°C is 2.3 kPa and the
vapor pressure of air at 20°C and 60 percent
relative humidity is 1.4 kPa
Boiling, on the other hand, occurs at the
solid–liquid interface when a liquid is
brought into contact with a surface
maintained at a temperature Ts sufficiently
above the saturation temperature Tsat of the
liquid (Fig. 10–2). At 1 atm, for example,
liquid water in contact with a solid surface at
110°C boils since the saturation temperature
of water at 1 atm is 100°C. The boiling
process is characterized by the rapid
formation of vapor bubbles at the solid–
liquid interface that detach from the surface
when they reach a certain size and attempt to
rise to the free surface of the liquid.
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
2- Boiling Heat Transfer.
-----------------------(1)
The boiling may be in general of two types. The one in which the heating surface is submerged
in a quiescent part of liquid, and the heat transfer occur by free convection and bubble
agitation. The process is known as pool boiling. The pool boiling may further be divided into
sub-cooled or local boiling and saturated or bulk boiling. If the temperature of the liquid is
below the saturation temperature, the process is known as sub-cooled, or local, boiling. If the
liquid is maintained at saturation temperature, the process is known as saturated or bulk
boiling.
The other form of the boiling is known as forced convective boiling in which the boiling
occurs simultaneously with fluid motion induced by externally imposed pressure difference.
In this chapter, we will mostly consider the pool boiling.
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
3- Boiling Regime.
Fig.(1)
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
4- Heat Transfer Correlations in Pool Boiling.
A- Free Convection Relations.
Boiling regimes discussed above differ considerably in their character, and thus different heat
transfer relations need to be used for different boiling regimes (Fig. 2). In the natural convection
boiling regime (ΔTe <= 5°C), boiling is governed by natural convection currents, and heat transfer
rates in this case can be determined accurately using natural convection relations presented in
previous lectures.
B- Nucleate Pool Boiling.
In the nucleate boiling regime (5°C ≤ ∆𝑇𝑒 ≤30°C), the rate of heat transfer strongly depends on the
nature of nucleation (the number of active nucleation sites on the surface, the rate of bubble formation
at each site, etc.), which is difficult to predict. The type and the condition of the heated surface also
affect the heat transfer. These complications made it difficult to develop theoretical relations for heat
transfer in the nucleate boiling regime, and we had to rely on relations based on experimental data.
The most widely used correlation for the rate of heat transfer in the nucleate boiling regime was
proposed in 1952 by Rohsenow, and expressed as
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
Figure 2
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Subject: Heat Transfer-II
Dr. Mustafa B. Al-hadithi
C- Peak Heat Flux.
In the design of boiling heat transfer equipment, it is extremely important for the designer to have a
knowledge of the maximum heat flux in order to avoid the danger of burnout. The maximum (or
critical) heat flux in nucleate pool boiling was determined theoretically by S. S. Kutateladze in Russia
in 1948 and N. Zuber in the United States in 1958 using quite different approaches, and is expressed
as
D- Film Pool Boiling.
