Gas spreading on a heated wall wetted by liquid

Abstract

This study deals with a simple pure fluid whose temperature is slightly below its critical temperature and whose density is nearly critical, so that the gas and liquid phases coexist. Under equilibrium conditions, such a liquid completely wets the container wall and the gas phase is always separated from the solid by a wetting film. We report a striking change in the shape of the gas-liquid interface influenced by heating under weightlessness where the gas phase spreads over a hot solid surface showing an apparent contact angle larger than 90{\textdegree}. We show that the two-phase fluid is very sensitive to the differential vapor recoil force and give an explanation that uses this nonequilibrium effect. We also show how these experiments help to understand the boiling crisis, an important technological problem in high-power boiling heat exchange.

arXiv commentPhysical Review E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, American Physical Society, 2001

References in corpus (2)

• Boiling crisis and non-equilibrium drying transition
• Growth of a dry spot under a vapor bubble at high heat flux and high pressure

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• Is CHF triggered by the vapor recoil effect?