Hybrid phase-change lattice Boltzmann simulation of the bubble nucleation and different boiling regimes of conjugate boiling heat transfer

Abstract

Pool boiling characteristics in two computational domains with and without considering conjugate heat transfer (CHT) were numerically simulated by an improved hybrid pseudopotential phase-change lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The effects of constant temperature boundary condition (BC) with nucleate spots and fluctuant temperature on the boiling process were investigated in detail. It was found that for the computational domain without CHT, the treatment of constant temperature BC with nucleate spots is quite easier to produce film boiling than the temperature BC with small fluctuation. However, the results would be the opposite for the case with CHT. The entire boiling curve from the onset of nucleate boiling to fully developed film boiling was presented using the computational domain considering CHT and constant temperature BC with nucleate spots. The simulated critical heat flux showed an excellent agreement with the existing analytical solutions. Hence, the current hybrid phase-change LBM was quantitatively verified. The highly fluctuant heat flux occurred in the CHF and transition boiling as well as the transverse movement of the bubbles had been observed. Furthermore, the thermal responses inside the heater and heat transfer mechanism in different boiling patterns were also comprehensively studied.

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