Rainbow schlieren-based investigation of heat transfer mechanisms during isolated nucleate pool boiling phenomenon: Effect of superheat levels

Experimental investigation of various heat transfer mechanisms associated with isolated nucleate pool boiling have been presented. Measurements have been made in a complete non-intrusive manner using rainbow schlieren deflectometry technique. Boiling experiments have been performed for two levels of superheat with the bulk fluid maintained under saturated conditions. The rainbow schlieren images have first been subjected to qualitative interpretation wherein various sub-processes associated with the boiling phenomenon, such as development of thermal boundary layer on the substrate surface, inception of single bubble, growth of the vapor bubble till it departs, and scavenging of the superheat layer following the bubble departure have been discussed. Contributions of individual sub-processes towards the overall heat transfer rates achieved for a given superheat level have been determined through quantitative analysis of the images. Schlieren observations revealed the effect of varying superheat levels on parameters such as bubble diameter and departure time. Detailed heat transfer analysis revealed the dominance of evaporative heating in contributing towards the overall heat transfer rates. On the other hand, the contribution of natural convection from the heated substrate was found to be relatively small. In quantitative terms, the evaporative heating was seen to have an individual contribution as high as ≈66% to the overall heat transfer and ≈88% to the growth of the vapor bubble in the case of superheat level of 7 °C.