Energy balance of droplets impinging onto a wall heated above the Leidenfrost temperature

• Measurement techniques are combined to characterize the heat lost due to liquid vaporization.
• The wall heat flux is estimated by infrared thermography associated with inverse heat conduction.
• The liquid heating is characterized by the two-color Laser-Induced Fluorescence thermometry.
• Results reveal how the heat fluxes vary with the droplet sizes and the Weber number.

This work is an experimental study aiming at characterizing the heat transfers induced by the impingement of water droplets (diameter 80–180 μm) on a thin nickel plate heated by electromagnetic induction. The temperature of the rear face of the nickel sample is measured by means of an infrared camera and the heat removed from the wall due to the presence of the droplets is estimated using a semi-analytical inverse heat conduction model. In parallel, the temperature of the droplets is measured using the two-color Laser-Induced Fluorescence thermometry (2cLIF) which has been extended to imagery for the purpose of these experiments. The measurements of the variation in the droplet temperature occurring during an impact allow determining the sensible heat removed by the liquid. Measurements are performed at wall conditions well above the Leidenfrost temperature. Different values of the Weber numbers corresponding to the bouncing and splashing regimes are tested. Comparisons between the heat flux removed from the wall and the sensible heat gained by the liquid allows estimating the heat flux related to liquid evaporation. Results reveal that the respective level of the droplet sensible heat and the heat lost due to liquid vaporization can vary significantly with the droplet sizes and the Weber number.