Department of Chemical Engineering

UNIT OPERATIONS IV

HEAT TRANSFER
LESSON 5: Boiling Heat Transfer

Lecturer: Brandeice Jamieson

 Overview

01 02 03 04 05
Introduction Boiling vs Evaporation Boiling Classification Boiling Regime Boiling Heat Flux
Correlations
 Introduction
• Thermodynamics states 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

• Boiling and condensation differ from other forms of convection in that they depend on:
– Latent Heat of Vaporization
– Surface Tension of the liquid-vapor interface
– Properties of the fluid in each phase

• Heat transfer coefficients h associated with boiling and condensation are typically much higher than
those encountered in other forms of convection processes that involve a single phase.
PAGE 3
 Introduction
Typical values of the convection heat transfer coefficient

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 Boiling vs. Evaporation
▪ In processing plants boiling takes place on submerged surfaces or inside vertical tubes

▪ Boiling occurs at the solid-liquid interface if the temperature of the surface is maintained above
the saturation temperature

▪ Evaporation occurs at the liquid–vapor interface when the vapor pressure is less than the
saturation pressure of the liquid at a given temperature

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 Boiling vs. Evaporation

• 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.
• The liquid-vapor interface exists at the surface of the bubbles. The
vapor inside the bubble is surrounded by liquid, and the interface
is the surface of the bubble itself where the liquid comes into
contact with the vapor inside the bubble
• Bubbles form due to difference between the liquid-vapour
surface tension and the and the vapour pressure.
Examples of evaporation are:
the drying of clothes, fruits, and
vegetables.

Note that evaporation involves no

bubble formation or bubble motion PAGE 6
Boiling vs. Evaporation

PAGE 7
 Boiling

The boiling processes in practice do not occur under equilbirium conditions

The temperature and pressure of the vapor in a bubble are usually different than
those of the liquid.

The pressure difference between the liquid and the vapor is balanced by the
surface tension at the interface.

The temperature difference between the vapor in a bubble and the surrounding
liquid is the driving force for heat transfer between the two phases

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 Boiling

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

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 Heat Transfer in Boiling

When the liquid is at a lower

When the liquid is at a higher
temperature than the bubble, heat
temperature than the bubble, heat
will be transferred from the bubble
will be transferred from the liquid
into the liquid, causing some of the
to the bubble, causing the bubble
vapor inside the bubble to
to grow and rise to the top under
condense and the bubble to
the influence of buoyancy.
collapse eventually.

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 Boiling Classification

Subcooled
Pool Boiling (Natural
Convection)
Boiling
Saturated

Saturated
Flow Boiling (Forced
Convection)
Subcooled

PAGE 11
Boiling Classification

Boiling of stationary fluids

where motion is due to Liquid evaporates at the
natural convection and liquid-solid interface and the
bubble buoyancy surface tension causes
bubble formation

The bubbles rise and give up The bubbles transfer heat

their heat content to the from the surface to the bulk
lower temperature bulk of of the liquid until it reaches
the liquid and collapse (sub- the saturation temperature
cooled or local boiling) (saturated boiling

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 Boiling Classification

Here the combined effects

Flow boiling involves the of convection and pool
movement of the fluid by boiling is evident —
some external force. Heat flux and qmax
increase with fluid velocity.

External or internal flow

Internal flow boiling involve
boiling depend on the
combined flow patterns of
surface geometry (plate or
both liquid and vapour
tube)

Flow Boiling
PAGE 13
Boiling Classification

PAGE 14
 BOILING REGIMES AND BOILING CURVE

Natural Convection Boiling

Nucleate Boiling
Boiling Regime
Transition Boiling

Film Boiling

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The specific shape of the
curve depends on the
fluid–heating surface
material combination
and the fluid pressure,
but it is practically
independent of the
geometry of heating
surface
In practice, bubbles
forms on the heating
surface until the liquid is
heated a few degrees
above the saturation
temperature

PAGE 16
 Excess
Temperature

PAGE 17
 Boiling
Regimes

PAGE 18
 Boiling
Regimes

PAGE 19
 Boiling Curve
Nucleate Boiling (between Points A and C)
Two distinct Region: In region A-B,
isolated bubbles are formed at various
preferential nucleation sites on the
heated surface

In region B-C, the heater temperature is

further increased, and bubbles form at
such great rates at such a large number.
Forms numerous continuous columns of
vapour in the liquid

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Boiling Regime
▪ At large values of ΔTexcess, the rate of
evaporation of the heater surface
reaches such high values that a large
fraction of the heater surface is
covered by bubbles, making it difficult
for the liquid to reach the heater
surface and wet it.
▪ Consequently, the heat flux increases
at a lower rate with increasing
ΔTexcess, and reaches a maximum at
point C

PAGE 21
Transition Boiling

Between Points C and D on the

Boiling Curve

▪ When, ΔTexcess is increased past

point C, the heat flux decreases.
▪ This is because a large fraction of
the heater surface is covered by a
vapor film, which acts as an
insulation due to the low thermal
conductivity of the vapor relative
to that of the liquid

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Film Boiling

Beyond point D
The heat transfer rate increases
with increasing excess
temperature as a result of heat
transfer from the heated
surface to the liquid through
the vapor film by radiation,
which becomes significant at
high temperatures

PAGE 23
Burnout Point

An attempt to increase the

boiling heat flux beyond the
critical value often causes the
temperature of the heating
element to jump suddenly to a
value that is above the melting
point, resulting in burnout

PAGE 24
Heat Transfer Correlations in Pool Boiling

Nucleate Boiling Regime

• Applicable for clean and
relatively smooth surfaces
• Fluid properties are
evaluated at the saturation
temperature, Tsat

PAGE 25
Heat Transfer
Correlations
in Pool Boiling

PAGE 26
Nucleate Boiling Coefficients

• Values from both the tables

can be used for any geometry
since it is found that the rate
of heat transfer during
nucleate boiling is essentially
independent of the geometry
and orientation of the heated
surface
• Properties should be evaluated
at saturation temperature

PAGE 27
Critical Heat Flux

• Maximum heat flux is not

a function of such
properties as fluid-
heating surface
arrangement nor
viscosity, thermal
conductivity and liquid
specific heat capacity
• Since the maximum heat
flux is proportional to hfg
fluids with large
enthalpies of
vapourization, such as
water can be used to
achieve large heat fluxes

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▪ Minimum heat flux, which occurs at the
Leidenfrost point, is of practical interest since
it represents the lower limit for the heat flux
in the film boiling regime.
Minimum Heat Flux
▪ Using the stability theory, Zuber derived the
following following expression expression for
the minimum heat flux for a large horizontal
plate

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Film Boiling

▪ The vapour properties are

to be evaluated at the film
temperature, given as Tf=
(Ts + Tsat)/2, which is the
average temperature of the
vapour film
▪ The liquid properties and
hfg are to be evaluated at
the saturation temperature
at the specified pressure

PAGE 30
Radiation Heat Flux

▪ At high surface temperatures (typically

above 300°C), heat transfer across the
vapor film by radiation becomes
significant.
▪ Treating the vapor film as a transparent
medium sandwiched between two large
parallel plates and approximating the
liquid as a blackbody, radiation heat
transfer can be determined from

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Total Heat Flux
▪ The two mechanisms, convection and
radiation heat transfer adversely affect
each other, causing the total heat
transfer to be less than their sum.
▪ For example, the radiation heat transfer
from the surface to the liquid enhances
the rate of evaporation, and thus the
thickness of the vapor film, which
impedes convection heat transfer

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