Numerical Simulation of Bubbles Deformation, Flow, and Coalescence in a Microchannel Under Pseudo-Nucleation Conditions

Abstract

This paper reports the results of numerical study on bubbles deformation, flow, and coalescence under pseudo-nucleate boiling conditions in horizontal mini-/microchannels. The numerical simulation, which is based on the multiphase model of volume of fluid method, aims to study the corresponding flow behaviors of nucleate bubbles generated from the tube walls in mini-/microchannels so as to understand the effect of confined surfaces/walls on nucleate bubbles and heat transfer. Under the pseudo- or quasi-nucleate boiling condition, superheated small vapor bubbles are injected at the wall to ensure that the bubbles generation is under a similar condition of real nucleation. The numerical study examined the fluid mechanics of bubble motion with heat transfer, but the mass transfer across the bubble–liquid interface is not simulated in the present work.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the UK EPSRC under grant EP/D500125/01.

Yuying Yan is professor at University of Nottingham (UK). He obtained a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from Jilin University (China) in 1982, M.Sc. in mechanical engineering from Shanghai University for Science & Technology in 1986, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from City University (London) in 1996, followed by a research fellow position in chemical and process engineering at University of Surrey (1996–1998). He has carried out research in single- and two-phase heat transfer, enhanced heat transfer, and numerical modeling.

Yingqing Zu is a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Nottingham (UK). He was awarded a B.Sc. in applied mathematical mechanics in 2002 and M.Sc. in computational fluid mechanics in 2005 from Jilin University (China). His research area is single- and multiphase fluid flow and heat transfer.