Heat Transfer Enhancement Caused by Sliding Bubbles

Abstract

Measurements that illustrate the enhancement of heat transfer caused by a bubble sliding under an inclined surface are reported. The data were obtained on an electrically heated thin-foil surface that was exposed on its lower side to FC-87 and displayed the output of a liquid crystal coating on the upper (dry) side. A sequence of digital images was obtained from two cameras: one that recorded the response of the liquid crystal and one that recorded images of the bubble as it moved along the heated surface. With this information, the thermal imprint of the bubble was correlated to its motion and position. A bubble generator that produced FC-87 bubbles of repeatable and controllable size was also developed for this study. The results show that both the microlayer under a sliding bubble and the wake behind the bubble contribute substantially to the local heat transfer rate from the surface. The dynamic behavior of the bubbles corresponded well with studies of the motion of adiabatic bubbles under inclined plates, even though the bubbles in the present study grew rapidly because of heat transfer from the wall and the surrounding superheated liquid. Three regimes of bubble motion were observed: spherical, ellipsoidal and bubble-cap. The regimes depend upon bubble size and velocity. A model of the heat transfer within the microlayer was used to infer the microlayer thickness. Preliminary results indicate a microlayer thickness of 40–50 μm for bubbles in FC-87 and a plate inclination of 12 deg.