The Role of Bubble Waiting Time in Steady Nucleate Boiling

Abstract

Experimental results previously reported by Ibrahim and Judd were examined in order to determine the role of bubble waiting time in steady nucleate boiling. The analysis identified that the time elapsed between the formation of bubbles at a nucleation site is the time required for the liquid which replaced the previous bubble to acquire sufficient energy to sustain the growth of the subsequent bubble, and not the time required to establish the conditions required to enable the nucleus, which formed at the nucleation site, to commence growing into a bubble.