On Predicting Boiling Burnout with the Mechanical Energy Stability Criterion

Abstract

The mechanical energy stability criterion has been used in the past to predict burnout in flow boiling and is extended here to describe pool boiling burnout. Its use replaces the need for a knowledge of the Helmholtz wavelengths, which is needed in the conventional hydrodynamic theory, with a need to know the surface area of departing bubbles. The hitherto unpublished data of Sun are used to predict the latter. The geometries investigated include the infinite horizontal flat plate, the cylinder, and the sphere.