Boiling characteristics of water and self-rewetting fluids in packed bed of spherical glass beads

Enhancing the heat transfer of boiling has been extensively investigated by either surface modification technique or alteration of the properties of working fluids. In this paper, an experimental investigation on the nucleate boiling characteristics of deionized water and some typical self-rewetting fluids (aqueous n-butanol, n-pentanol and n-hexanol solutions) in spherical glass beads packed bed porous structures was performed. Unique bubble dynamics was observed in the porous structures for these working fluids under different heat flux conditions. The results show that the heat transfer during nucleate boiling can not only be enhanced by the porous structures, but also be enhanced by increasing the number of carbon atoms of the alcohols. This work provides fundamental data for further development of theoretical models of pool boiling heat transfer in porous structures. Extended investigation can be performed by improving the superheats, to fully understand the effect of interfacial property on the heat transfer characteristics of various working fluids in the glass beads packed porous structures and in related applications.