In nuclear power plants, during operation at high temperatures, there can occur a steam build-up around the fuel rods at an increasing rate. This inhibits the water’s effectivity in removing heat from the rods. When this occurs and reaches a critical point, the temperature in the fuel rods surges, which can lead to them being damaged. This is called critical heat flux (CHF). During operation, the reactor always keeps a safety margin to the point where CHF can occur. The margin to CHF is one of the factors that limits the nuclear power plant’s ability to produce electricity. With the help of the tests that Westinghouse runs, the safety margin to the CHF can be more accurately determined, so that the reactor can safely be closer to the critical point.Westinghouse uses rods that are heated with electricity instead of nuclear fuel. In Westinghouse’s test facility, a problem has been identified, where the uppermost part of the rod has a risk of breaking due to the high temperatures. The temperatures are so high due to the rod being unable to conduct the large amount of current (max. 300kW) through the grid plate, situated at the top. The rod has a tapered end and is hammered into the grid plate’s tapered holes during assembly. The rod’s end is hollow and is attached from above using screws.To find a solution, two theoretical concepts have been developed and an eventual change of rod material has been evaluated. The purpose of the concepts is to limit the risk of problems occurring due to heat increase during operation. Both concepts have reduced hole size and length, to avoid hollow areas around the warmest part of the construction. For concept evaluation, Pugh’s concept selection method has been used. The most appropriate concept has been evaluated to be a reduced hole width, and a deeper hole with a thread insert.

A pool boiling experimental facility has been designed and built to investigate nucleate pool boiling in water under sub atmospheric pressure. Liquid crystal thermography, a non intrusive technique, is used for the determination of surface temperature distributions. This technique uses encapsulated liquid crystals that reflect definite colors at specific temperatures and viewing angle. Design of the test section is important in this experimental study. Since a new TLC is required for every new set of test conditions, a permanently sealed test section is not an option. The real challenge is to design a leak proof test section which is flexible so that it can be taken apart easily. A plexiglass test section, including a top chamber with an internal volume of 60.9 x 60.9 x 66.4 mm and a bottom plate of 5.5mm thickness is designed and assembled together using quick grips. In the test section, water is boiled using 85.0mm x 16.0mm and 0.050mm thick Fecralloy® as the heating element. The TLC sheet is attached to the bottom plate and the heating element is placed on top of TLC so that the temperature distribution of the heating element during boiling can be interpreted from TLC. A camera system fast enough to capture the thermal response of the TLC and an arrangement to capture both hue of the TLC and growth of the bubble on the same frame has been designed and successfully used. This system allowed recording of position, size and shape of the bubble with synchronized surface temperature. In order to get hue vs. temperature relation, in-situ calibration of the TLC is performed for each test condition with the present experimental setup and lighting conditions. It is found that the calibration curve of the TLC at atmospheric pressure is different from the calibration curve of the same TLC at subatmospheric pressures. The maximum temperature difference between the two curves for the same hue is found to be only 0.6°C. The experiment is run at four different test conditions of subatmospheric pressure and low heat flux. It is run at system pressures of 6.2kPa (0.89Psi) and 8.0kPa (1.16Psi) with a constant heat flux of 1.88kW/m2 and 2.70kW/m2, and a constant heat flux of 2.70kW/m2, 3.662kW/m2 and 4.50 kW/m2 respectively. Analysis of nucleating surface temperatures using thermochromic liquid crystal technique is performed for these test conditions and the bubble dynamics is studied. The temperature distribution is quite varied in each case and the temperature is at its maximum value at the center of the bubble and it decreases radially from the center. The dry spot observed during the experiments indicates that the process of evaporation of the microlayer is dominant at subatmospheric pressures. It is observed that at very low pressure and heat flux the bubble growth is accompanied by the neck formation. Boiling parameters such as bubble frequency, bubble size and contact are also analyzed and a summary of these results for four different test conditions is presented and the relevant differences between the cases are discussed and the effect of increase in pressure and heat flux is noted.

<div>Nucleate boiling is an efficient heat transfer mechanism that enables the dissipation of high heat fluxes at low temperature differences. Heat transfer phenomena during nucleate boiling are closely linked to the two-phase flow morphology that evolves in time and based on the operating conditions. In particular, the critical heat flux, which is the upper limit for the nucleate boiling regime, can be triggered by hydrodynamic mechanisms resulting from interactions between the liquid and vapor phases. The aim of this thesis is to characterize the two-phase flow morphology evolution during nucleate boiling at high heat fluxes in two configurations: pool boiling, and confined and submerged two-phase jet impingement. The characterization is performed via non-invasive, high-speed optical based diagnostic tools. </div><div>Experimental characterization of liquid-vapor interfaces during boiling is often challenging because the rapidly evolving vapor structures are sensitive to invasive probes and multiple interfaces can occlude one another along a line of sight. In this thesis, a liquid-vapor interface reconstruction technique based on high-speed stereo imaging is developed. Images are filtered for feature enhancement and template matching is used for determining the correspondence of local features of the liquid-vapor interfaces between the two camera views. A sampling grid is overlaid on the reference image and windows centered at each sampled pixel are compared with windows centered along the epipolar line in the target image to obtain a correlation signal. To enhance the signatures of true matches, the correlation signals for each sampled pixel are averaged over a short time ensemble correlation. The three-dimensional coordinates of each matched pixel are determined via triangulation, which yields a set of points in the physical world representing the liquid-vapor interface. The developed liquid-vapor interface reconstruction technique is a high-speed, flexible and non-invasive alternative to the various existing methods for phase-distribution mapping. This technique also has the potential to be combined with other optical-based diagnostic tools, such as tomographic particle image velocimetry, to further understand the phase interactions.<br></div><div>The liquid-vapor interface reconstruction technique is used to characterize liquid-vapor interfaces above the heated surface during nucleate pool boiling, where the textured interface resulting from the boiling phenomena and flow interactions near the heated surface is particularly suited for reconstruction. Application of the reconstruction technique to pool boiling at high heat fluxes produces a unique quantitative characterization of the liquid-vapor interface morphology near heated surface. Analysis of temporal signals extracted from reconstructions indicate a clear transition in the nature of the vapor flow dynamics from a plume-like vapor flow to a release mode dominated by vapor burst events. Further investigation of the vapor burst events allows identification of a characteristic morphology of the vapor structures that form above the surface that is associated to the square shape of the heat source. Vapor flow morphology characterization during pool boiling at high heat fluxes can be used to inform vapor removal strategies that delay the occurrence of the critical heat flux during pool boiling.</div><div>As compared to pool boiling, nucleate boiling can be sustained up to significantly higher heat fluxes during two-phase jet impingement. The increases in critical heat flux are explained via hydrodynamic mechanisms that have been debated in the literature. The connection between two-phase flow morphology and the extension of nucleate boiling regime is investigated for a single subcooled jet of water that impinges on a circular heat source via high-speed visualization from two synchronized top and side views of the confinement gap. When boiling occurs under subcooled exit flow conditions and at moderate heat fluxes, the regular formation and collapse of vapor structures that bridge the heated surface and the orifice plate is observed, which causes significant oscillations in the pressure drop across. Under saturated exit flow conditions, the vapor agglomerates in the confinement gap into a bowl-like vapor structure that recurrently shrinks, due to vapor break-off at the edge of the orifice plate, and replenishes due to vapor generation. The optical visualizations from the top of the confinement gap provide a unique perspective and indicate that the liquid jet flows downwards through the vapor structure, impinges on the heated surface, and then flows underneath the vapor structure, as a fluid wall jet the keeps the heated surface wetted such that discrete bubbles continue to nucleate. At high heat fluxes, intense vapor generation causes the fluid wall jet to transition from a bubbly to a churn-like regime, and some liquid droplets are sheared off into the vapor structure. The origin of critical heat flux appears to result from a significant portion of the liquid in the wall jet being deflected off the surface, and the remaining liquid film on the surface drying out before reaching the edge of the heater.</div><div>The flow morphology characterizations presented in this dissertation further the understanding of flow and heat transfer phenomena during nucleate boiling. In the pool boiling configuration, the vapor release process was quantitatively described; during two-phase jet impingement, a possible mechanism for critical heat flux was identified. Opportunities for future work include the utilization of image processing techniques to extract quantitative measurements from two-phase jet impingement visualizations. Also, the developed liquid-vapor interface reconstruction technique can be applied to a boiling situation with a simpler liquid-vapor interface geometry, such as film boiling, to generate benchmark data for validation and development of numerical models.</div><div><br></div>

O estudo presente constitui uma análise da influência do acabamento superficial no coeficiente de transferência de calor na ebulição nucleada de refrigerantes halogenados. Dados para três superfícies distintas (cobre, latão e aço inoxidável), dois fluidos refrigerantes (R123 e R134a) e pressões reduzidas entre 0,023 e 0,26 são analisados com o intuito de verificar a influência da rugosidade nestes três parâmetros. O efeito da rugosidade foi avaliado com três acabamentos distintos (massa polidora, lixa e jato de areia) cobrindo uma faixa de rugosidades médias variando desde 0,03 até 10,5 micrômetro. Uma análise de diversas publicações da literatura foi levada a cabo, tendo sido particularmente investigadas algumas correlações que consideram o efeito do acabamento superficial em sua estimativa do coeficiente de transferência de calor. As tendências destas correlações são comparadas entre si e com os dados experimentais. A análise dos resultados permitiu levantar tendências inéditas na literatura consultada. A superfície em ebulição recebeu especial atenção com a obtenção de microfotografias e o cálculo de diversos parâmetros de rugosidade. Foram, ainda, investigados efeitos de envelhecimento da superfície, caracterizado pela diminuição do coeficiente de transferência de calor ao longo do tempo de ebulição. / The present research has been focused in an analysis of the effect of surface finishing on nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficient of halocarbon refrigerants. Experimental data for three different surface material (cooper, brass and stainless steel), two refrigerants (R123 and R134a) and reduced pressures between 0.023 and 0.26 have been analyzed aiming to verify the roughness effects on these three parameters. Three different finishing processes (polishing, emery papering and shot pining) have been used to result in an average roughness range from 0.03 to 10.5 micrometer. An analysis of varied publications and some correlations, particularly those which estimate the effect of surface roughness in heat transfer coefficient, has been done. The tendencies from these correlations have been compared with themselves and with experimental data. These results have shown some effects still unpublished. The boiling surface has received an especial attention, micro-photography has been taken and various parameters have been evaluated. Ageing effects, characterized by the reduction of heat transfer coefficient, have been verified and analyzed.

Orientador: Elaine Maria Cardoso / Resumo: A intensificação da transferência de calor por meio de alterações na morfologia da superfície aquecida vem sendo estudada no meio científico, a fim de suprir a crescente demanda de resfriamento de dispositivos com alta capacidade de processamento e dimensões cada vez menores. O presente trabalho apresenta o estudo experimental do efeito de superfícies nanoestruturadas e do espaçamento do canal de confinamento durante a ebulição em piscina da água deionizada, à temperatura de saturação na pressão atmosférica, sobre o coeficiente de transferência de calor, HTC, e fluxo crítico de calor, CHF. As superfícies nanoestruturadas foram obtidas pelo processo de ebulição do nanofluido de Al2O3-água deionizada em duas diferentes concentrações más-sicas: 0,03 g/l (“baixa” concentração, LC) e 0,3 g/l (“alta” concentração, HC). Foram realizados testes livres, com espaçamento, entre a superfície aquecida e a superfície adiabática, de 30 mm (correspondendo a Bo = 12), e testes sob condições de confinamento, com espaçamento de 1,0 mm (Bo = 0,4). As superfícies de teste foram caracterizadas por meio de medição da rugosidade média (Ra), do ângulo de contato estático (molhabilidade), e imagens MEV. Foi observado um aumento médio de 45% no HTC do teste com superfície lisa nanoestruturada em baixa concentração de nanofluido, em relação à superfície lisa sem deposição. Esse ganho está relacionado com o aumento do número de sítios ativos de nucleação causado pela deposição das nanopartículas sobre a ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The intensification of heat transfer through changes in the heated surface morphology has been studied in the scientific community to meet the increase demand for cooling of devices with high processing power and smaller dimensions. This work presents the experimental study of the effect of nanocoated surfaces and gap size during nucleated boiling of deionized water, in saturation temperature at atmospheric pressure, about heat transfer coefficient, HTC, and critical heat flux, CHF. The pool boiling process of Al2O3-water based nanofluid at two different mass concentrations: 0.03 g/l (“low” concentration, LC) and 0.3 g/l (“high” concentration, HC), produced nanostructured surfaces. Unconfined tests were analyzed, with gap size between the heated surface and the adiabatic surface of 30 mm (corresponding to Bo = 12), and tests under confinement conditions, with gap size of 1.0 mm (Bo = 0.4). The tested surfaces were characterized by means of surface roughness (Ra) measurement, static contact angle (wettability), and SEM images. An average increase of 45% in HTC of the test with nanocoated smooth surface in low nanofluid concentration was observed in relation to smooth surface without deposition. This enhancement is related to the increase in the number of active nucleation sites caused by the nanoparticle’s deposition on the smooth surface. For all tests with rough nanocoated surfaces and nanocoated smooth one with high nanofluid concentration, there was degradation of the HTC ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Submitted by Jessica Martha Nunes (je.nunes25@gmail.com) on 2018-10-04T01:31:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_NunesJM.pdf: 7307066 bytes, checksum: 4cd6a3e84b8e10900f14961caf7df4e5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Cristina Alexandra de Godoy null (cristina@adm.feis.unesp.br) on 2018-10-08T14:23:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 nunes_jm_me_ilha.pdf: 7307066 bytes, checksum: 4cd6a3e84b8e10900f14961caf7df4e5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-08T14:23:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 nunes_jm_me_ilha.pdf: 7307066 bytes, checksum: 4cd6a3e84b8e10900f14961caf7df4e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A intensificação da transferência de calor por meio de alterações na morfologia da superfície aquecida vem sendo estudada no meio científico, a fim de suprir a crescente demanda de resfriamento de dispositivos com alta capacidade de processamento e dimensões cada vez menores. O presente trabalho apresenta o estudo experimental do efeito de superfícies nanoestruturadas e do espaçamento do canal de confinamento durante a ebulição em piscina da água deionizada, à temperatura de saturação na pressão atmosférica, sobre o coeficiente de transferência de calor, HTC, e fluxo crítico de calor, CHF. As superfícies nanoestruturadas foram obtidas pelo processo de ebulição do nanofluido de Al2O3-água deionizada em duas diferentes concentrações más-sicas: 0,03 g/l (“baixa” concentração, LC) e 0,3 g/l (“alta” concentração, HC). Foram realizados testes livres, com espaçamento, entre a superfície aquecida e a superfície adiabática, de 30 mm (correspondendo a Bo = 12), e testes sob condições de confinamento, com espaçamento de 1,0 mm (Bo = 0,4). As superfícies de teste foram caracterizadas por meio de medição da rugosidade média (Ra), do ângulo de contato estático (molhabilidade), e imagens MEV. Foi observado um aumento médio de 45% no HTC do teste com superfície lisa nanoestruturada em baixa concentração de nanofluido, em relação à superfície lisa sem deposição. Esse ganho está relacionado com o aumento do número de sítios ativos de nucleação causado pela deposição das nanopartículas sobre a superfície lisa. Para todos os testes com superfícies rugosas nanoestruturadas e lisa nanoestruturada com alta concentração, houve degradação do HTC, devido ao efeito de preenchimento das cavidades e formação de uma resistência térmica adicional. Para baixos fluxos de calor, houve um aumento no HTC para os casos confinados em comparação aos livres, como consequência da evaporação do filme líquido presente entre a superfície aquecida e a bolha de vapor. Porém com o aumento do fluxo de calor, o fenômeno do dryout é antecipado em relação aos testes livres, o que compromete o desempenho de componentes sob essas condições. Nos testes sob confinamento foram observados ganhos no fluxo de calor de início do dryout para todas as superfícies nanoestruturadas testadas, chegando a 52% para a superfície lisa nanoestruturada em alta concentração, em comparação à superfície lisa sem nanoestrutura. Isso mostra que a nanoestruturação, apesar de não promover ganho no HTC, auxilia no ganho do fluxo de calor de início do dryout, que é o limite operacional de sistemas que trabalham sob confinamento. / The intensification of heat transfer through changes in the heated surface morphology has been studied in the scientific community to meet the increase demand for cooling of devices with high processing power and smaller dimensions. This work presents the experimental study of the effect of nanocoated surfaces and gap size during nucleated boiling of deionized water, in saturation temperature at atmospheric pressure, about heat transfer coefficient, HTC, and critical heat flux, CHF. The pool boiling process of Al2O3-water based nanofluid at two different mass concentrations: 0.03 g/l (“low” concentration, LC) and 0.3 g/l (“high” concentration, HC), produced nanostructured surfaces. Unconfined tests were analyzed, with gap size between the heated surface and the adiabatic surface of 30 mm (corresponding to Bo = 12), and tests under confinement conditions, with gap size of 1.0 mm (Bo = 0.4). The tested surfaces were characterized by means of surface roughness (Ra) measurement, static contact angle (wettability), and SEM images. An average increase of 45% in HTC of the test with nanocoated smooth surface in low nanofluid concentration was observed in relation to smooth surface without deposition. This enhancement is related to the increase in the number of active nucleation sites caused by the nanoparticle’s deposition on the smooth surface. For all tests with rough nanocoated surfaces and nanocoated smooth one with high nanofluid concentration, there was degradation of the HTC due to the filling effect of the cavities and the formation of an additional thermal resistance. For low heat fluxes, the HTC increased for confined cases compare to unconfined ones, as consequence of the liquid film evaporation present between the heated surface and the vapor bubble. However, with heat flux increase, the dryout phenomenon incipience is precipitated in relation to unconfined tests, which compromises the performance of components under these conditions. In the confined tests, enhancement in dryout incipience heat flux were observed for all nanocoated surfaces tested, reaching 52% for the nanocoated smooth surface in high concentration, compared to the smooth surface without nanostructure. This shows that nanostructure, while not promoting HTC enhancement, helps to delay the dryout incipience heat flux, which is the operational limit of systems that work under confinement.

Suite à un défaut de contrôle de la réaction nucléaire, un accident d’insertion de réactivité (RIA) peut survenir dans une centrale. Un pic de puissance se produit alors dans certains crayons de combustible, suffisamment important pour entraîner l’ébullition en film du réfrigérant qui les entoure. Ceci provoque la chute du refroidissement des crayons et donc une rapide et importante augmentation de la température de la gaine qui les entoure. L’évaluation du risque de rupture de la gaine est un sujet d’étude de l’Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire. Ces échanges de chaleur transitoires ne sont toujours pas compris et modélisés. Pour comprendre ces phénomènes, une boucle expérimentale a été construite à l’Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse. Du HFE7000 circule de bas en haut dans une section d’essais verticale de géométrie semi-annulaire. Le demi-cylindre intérieur est une feuille de métal chauffée par effet Joule. Sa température est mesurée par une caméra infrarouge, couplée avec une caméra rapide pour la visualisation de l’écoulement. La courbe d’ébullition entière est étudiée en régimes stationnaire et transitoire : convection, déclenchement de l’ébullition, ébullition nucléée, passage en film, ébullition en film et remouillage. Les régimes stationnaires sont bien modélisés par des corrélations de la littérature. Différents modèles sont proposés pour représenter les transferts de chaleur transitoires : l’évolution de la convection et de l’ébullition nucléée se font de manière auto similaire pendant un palier de puissance. Ce constat permet de modéliser des évolutions plus compliquées telles des rampes de température. Le modèle de Hsu instationnaire prédit bien le déclenchement de l’ébullition. Pour des créneaux de puissance, le passage en film se fait à une température constante et le flux critique augmente avec la puissance, tandis que pour des rampes de puissance la température augmente mais le flux critique diminue avec l’augmentation de la puissance. Quand la paroi est chauffée, les flux de chaleur en ébullition en film sont beaucoup plus importants qu’en stationnaire mais ce régime est encore mal compris. Le refroidissement en ébullition en film et le remouillage sont bien caractérisés par un modèle à deux fluides. / A failure in the control system of the power of a nuclear reactor can lead to a Reactivity Initiated Accident in a nuclear power plant. Then, a power peak occurs in some fuel rods, high enough to lead to the coolant film boiling. It leads to an important increase of the temperature of the rod. The possible risk of the clad’s failure is a matter of interest for the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire. The transient boiling heat transfer is not yet understood and modelled. An experimental set-up has been built at the Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse (IMFT). Subcooled HFE-7000 flows vertically upward in a semi annulus test section. The inner half cylinder simulates the clad and is made of a stainless steel foil, heated by Joule effect. Its temperature is measured by an infrared camera, coupled with a high speed camera for the visualization of the flow topology. The whole boiling curve is studied in steady state and transient regimes: convection, onset of boiling, nucleate boiling, criticial heat flux, film boiling and rewetting. The steady state heat transfers are well modelled by literature correlations. Models are suggested for the transient heat flux: the convection and nucleate boiling evolutions are self-similar during a power step. This observation allows to model more complex evolutions, as temperature ramps. The transient Hsu model well represents the onset of nucleate boiling. When the intensity of the power step increases, the film boiling begins at the same temperature but with an increasing heat flux. For power ramps, the critical heat flux decreases while the corresponding temperature increases with the heating rate. When the wall is heated, the film boiling heat transfer is higher than in steady state but it is not understood. A two-fluid model well simulates the cooling film boiling and the rewetting.

O estudo presente constitui uma análise da influência do acabamento superficial no coeficiente de transferência de calor na ebulição nucleada de refrigerantes halogenados. Dados para três superfícies distintas (cobre, latão e aço inoxidável), dois fluidos refrigerantes (R123 e R134a) e pressões reduzidas entre 0,023 e 0,26 são analisados com o intuito de verificar a influência da rugosidade nestes três parâmetros. O efeito da rugosidade foi avaliado com três acabamentos distintos (massa polidora, lixa e jato de areia) cobrindo uma faixa de rugosidades médias variando desde 0,03 até 10,5 micrômetro. Uma análise de diversas publicações da literatura foi levada a cabo, tendo sido particularmente investigadas algumas correlações que consideram o efeito do acabamento superficial em sua estimativa do coeficiente de transferência de calor. As tendências destas correlações são comparadas entre si e com os dados experimentais. A análise dos resultados permitiu levantar tendências inéditas na literatura consultada. A superfície em ebulição recebeu especial atenção com a obtenção de microfotografias e o cálculo de diversos parâmetros de rugosidade. Foram, ainda, investigados efeitos de envelhecimento da superfície, caracterizado pela diminuição do coeficiente de transferência de calor ao longo do tempo de ebulição. / The present research has been focused in an analysis of the effect of surface finishing on nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficient of halocarbon refrigerants. Experimental data for three different surface material (cooper, brass and stainless steel), two refrigerants (R123 and R134a) and reduced pressures between 0.023 and 0.26 have been analyzed aiming to verify the roughness effects on these three parameters. Three different finishing processes (polishing, emery papering and shot pining) have been used to result in an average roughness range from 0.03 to 10.5 micrometer. An analysis of varied publications and some correlations, particularly those which estimate the effect of surface roughness in heat transfer coefficient, has been done. The tendencies from these correlations have been compared with themselves and with experimental data. These results have shown some effects still unpublished. The boiling surface has received an especial attention, micro-photography has been taken and various parameters have been evaluated. Ageing effects, characterized by the reduction of heat transfer coefficient, have been verified and analyzed.

This study experimentally investigated the effect of hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces characteristics on nucleate boiling heat transfer performance for the application of direct immersion cooling of electronics. A dielectric liquid, HFE – 7100 was used as the working fluid in the saturated boiling tests. Twelve types of 1-cm2 copper heater samples, simulating high heat flux components, featured reference smooth copper surface, fully and patterned hydrophobic surface and fully and patterned hydrophilic surfaces. Hydrophobic samples were prepared by applying a thin Teflon coating following photolithography techniques, while the hydrophilic TiO2 thin films were made through a two step approach involving layer by layer self assembly and liquid phase deposition processes. Patterned surfaces had circular dots with sizes between 40 – 250 μm. Based on additional data, both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces improved nucleate boiling performance that is evaluated in terms of boiling incipience, heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux (CHF) level. The best results, considering the smooth copper surface as the reference, were achieved by the surfaces that have a mixture of hydrophobic/hydrophilic coatings, providing: (a) early transition to boiling regime and with eliminated temperature overshoot phenomena at boiling incipience, (b) up to 58.5% higher heat transfer coefficients, and (c) up to 47.4% higher CHF levels. The studied enhanced surfaces therefore demonstrated a practical surface modification method for heat transfer enhancement in immersion cooling applications.

Nucleating boiling is a repeating cycle of bubble initiation, growth and departure at many nucleation sites at the heated wall. Thereby, the bubble growth process significantly affects the dynamics of bubble departure. Experiments were performed to study the influence of heater surface characteristics, such as wettability and roughness, on single bubble growth and departure dynamics for natural circulation and upward flow boiling conditions. Self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coating, wet-etching and femtosecond pulsed laser treatment were used to alter the surface wettability and produce nano- and microstructures on stainless steel surfaces with a roughness in the range of micrometers. These surface preparation techniques allowed to separately quantify the effect of surface wettability and roughness on the bubble dynamics. The surface wettability and roughness are represented by the liquid contact angle hysteresis (θhys) and root mean square roughness of the surface (Sq). Boiling experiments were conducted at atmospheric pressure with degassed deionized water at low-subcooling. Stainless steel heater surfaces were vertically oriented during natural circulation boiling. In the experiments, bubbles were generated from an artificial nucleation cavity on the treated stainless steel heater surfaces. High-resolution optical shadowgraphy has been used to record the bubble generation, departure, sliding, detachment and inception of the next bubble. Higher bulk liquid velocity yielded smaller bubble departure diameters and slower bubble growth rates for all heater surface types. The effect of surface wettability on single bubble dynamics was studied for smooth surfaces with different liquid contact angle hysteresis. Low wetting surfaces yielded a greater bubble growth rate and departure diameter. The bubble growth rate and departure diameter were found maximum for an intermediate surface roughness Sq between 0.108 and 0.218 m. The corresponding roughness height is referred to as the ‘optimal roughness height’ in this work. Surface roughness was found very influential to the bubble growth and departure, which can be explained by considering its interaction with the microlayer underneath a bubble. The role of the heater surface parameters for the bubble growth was qualitatively assessed by evaluating the microlayer thickness constant C2. Hence, an improved bubble growth model was derived in this work. The bubble growth model was formulated on the basis of the evaporation of the microlayer beneath a bubble with the dryout area, inertia and heat diffusion controlled bubble growth and condensation at the bubble cap. The model can also predict the superheated liquid layer around a bubble which helps to determine the portion of a bubble that is in contact with the subcooled liquid. As bubble growth Abstract is highly dependent on the effective interactions of heater surface roughness and microlayer, a term Ceff was introduced in the bubble growth model. The effective microlayer thickness constant Ceff incorporates the impact of heater surface characteristics on the bubble growth process until the departure of a bubble. The bubble growth model was utilized in the analysis of high-resolution experimental data of steam bubble growth and the values of Ceff were calculated for different heater surface characteristics. The value of Ceff was found to decrease with the increase of bubble growth rate. A simplified model for the bubble departure criterion was derived from the expressions of forces which act on a nucleating bubble throughout its growth cycle. It was found that 90% of the departing bubbles satisfy the bubble departure criterion model with ±25% deviation. The knowledge gained from this work shall be particularly useful to improve nucleate boiling models for numerical simulations. The findings are also useful for designing heater surfaces in the future.:Abstract v Kurzfassung vii Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations and Symbols xv Chapter 1: Introduction and Motivation 1 1.1 General overview 1 1.2 Theoretical background 3 1.3 Objectives and outline of the thesis 7 Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Bubble Dynamics in Nucleate Boiling 9 2.1 Bubble growth in nucleate boiling 9 2.2 Bubble growth models 12 2.3 The physical process of bubble departure 16 2.4 Experimental investigations of bubble dynamics 20 2.4.1 Effects of heater surface characteristics 21 2.4.2 Effects of bulk liquid velocity 24 2.5 Chapter conclusion 26 Chapter 3: Heater Surface Preparation and Characterization 27 3.1 Surface properties 27 3.2 Surface preparation 29 3.2.1 Self-assembled monolayer coating 30 3.2.2 High-power pulsed laser irradiation 31 3.2.3 Wet-etching 32 3.3 Surface cleaning 32 3.4 Surface characterization 32 3.4.1 Wettability measurement 32 3.4.2 Roughness measurement 33 3.4.3 Analysis of surface characteristics 34 3.4.4 Uncertainty of surface parameters 38 3.5 Artificial cavity preparation 38 Chapter 4: Experimental Setup and Procedure 41 4.1 Natural circulation boiling (NCB 41 4.1.1 Experimental procedure and measurement techniques 41 4.1.2 Uncertainty analysis 44 4.2 Upward flow boiling (UFB) 45 4.2.1 Experimental procedure and measurement techniques 45 4.2.2 Uncertainty analysis 48 4.3 Image processing 50 Chapter 5: Experimental Results 53 5.1 Introduction to the analysis of the bubble dynamics 53 5.1.1 The bubble life cycle 53 5.1.2 Calculation of the bubble equivalent diameter 55 5.1.3 Bubble dynamics with the increase of heat flux 57 5.1.4 Qualitative assessment of the bubble dynamics for different parameters 60 5.2 Bubble dynamics 61 5.2.1 Effect of heater surface wettability 61 5.2.2 Effect of heater surface roughness 65 5.2.3 Effect of bulk liquid velocity 70 5.3 Bubble departure 76 5.3.1 Effect of heater surface wettablity 76 5.3.2 Effect of heater surface roughness 76 5.3.3 Effect of bulk liquid velocity 78 5.4 Chapter conclusion 79 Chapter 6: Analysis and Model Development 81 6.1 Numerical evaluation of the role of heater surface characteristics 81 6.1.1 Derivation of an improved bubble growth model 86 6.1.2 Calculation of Ceff 82 6.2 Effect of liquid velocity on the bubble growth 93 6.3 Improved modeling of bubble departure 95 6.3.1 Analysis of important parameters 95 6.3.2 Formulation of a bubble departure criterion 100 6.4 Chapter conclusion 102 Chapter 7: Summary and Outlook 105 Bibliography 109 List of Figures 121 List of Tables 127 Appendix: Surface Parameters and Profile 129 / Der Blasenabriss von einer Keimstellenkavität ist ein komplexer Ablösemechanismus und spielt eine wichtige Rolle beim Wärmetransport. Zur Beschreibung der Blasendynamik sind Kenntnisse über den Blasenwachstumsprozess sowie die Vorhersage eines Kriteriums für die Blasenablösung erforderlich. In den existierenden Blasenwachstums- und Blasenablösungsmodellen wird die Oberflächencharakteristik des Heizers bisher nicht berücksichtigt. Im Rahmen dieser Promotion wurden Experimente durchgeführt, um den Einfluss der Heizeroberfläche und der Hauptströmungsgeschwindigkeit auf diese Parameter für eine vertikale Heizfläche zu untersuchen. Hierbei wurden das Naturkonvektionssieden und das aufwärtsgerichtete Strömungssieden betrachtet. Die Experimente wurden mit vollentsalztem Wasser bei einer Unterkühlung zwischen 1,68 und 4,00 K bei Atmosphärendruck und einem aus Edelstahl gefertigten Heizer durchgeführt, dessen Oberfläche anhand der Parameter Oberflächenrauigkeit und Benetzbarkeit charakterisiert ist. Unterschiedliche Oberflächenbearbeitungstechniken, wie Beschichtung durch Self-Assembled Monolayer (SAM), Nass-Ätzen und Hochleistungspuls-Laserbestrahlung wurden genutzt, um die Oberflächenbenetzung und –rauigkeit zu modifizieren. Der Unterschied zwischen dem gemessenen Fortschritts- (θadv) und Rückzugskontaktwinkel (θrec) der Flüssigkeit wird als Flüssigkeitskontaktwinkelhysterese (θhys) bezeichnet und beschreibt die Oberflächenbenetzbarkeit. Die Oberflächenrauigkeit wurde durch ein Konfokal-Mikroskop bestimmt und durch das gemittelte Quadrat der Rauigkeit (Sq) und den Maximalwert der Rauigkeit (St) definiert. Insgesamt wurden 18 unterschiedliche Heizoberflächen mit einer Größe von 130 x 20 mm² untersucht. Davon kamen jeweils die Hälfte für das Naturkonvektionssieden bzw. aufwärtsgerichtetes Strömungssieden zur Anwendung. Der Einfluss der Oberflächenbenetzbarkeit auf die Blasendynamik wurde für polierte Oberflächen (Sq  0,01 μm) analysiert. Die Wirkung der Oberflächenrauigkeit auf die Blasendynamik wurde für konstante Flüssigkeitskontaktwinkelhysteresen von 40,05°±1,5° und 59,97°±1,5° für Naturzirkulation und Strömungssieden untersucht. Eine künstliche zylindrische Kavität mit einer Fläche von 1963,5 m² und einer Tiefe von 50 m wurde mittels Mikrolaser in die Heizoberflächen eingebracht, um die Blasen in einer spezifischen Position zu erzeugen. Während des Naturkonvektionssiedens betrug die Wärmestromdichte 19,22 bis 30,29 kW/m². Bei den Experimenten mit aufwärtsgerichtetem Strömungssieden wurde die Hauptströmungsgeschwindigkeit im Bereich von 0,052 bis 0,183 m/s variiert und eine Appendix: Surface Parameters and Profile Wärmestromdichte zwischen 39,41 und 45,47 kW/m² aufgeprägt. Daraus resultierten insgesamt 87 Experimentalserien. Um den Blasenlebenszyklus zu erfassen, wurde hochauflösende Bildgebungstechnik verwendet. Mit der Bildverarbeitungssoftware ImageJ wurden die erfassten Videos weiterverarbeitet. Die Temperatur der Hauptströmung wurde mit Typ-K Thermoelementen gemessen. Die zeit- und ortsgemittelten Heizerwandtemperaturen wurden für die Naturzirkulation durch Infrarotthermografie und für das aufwärtsgerichtete Strömungssieden durch Typ-K Thermoelemente erfasst. Die mittlere Flüssigkeitsgeschwindigkeit wurde bei der Naturzirkulation mittels Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) und beim Strömungssieden mittels Coriolis-Durchflusszähler bestimmt. Eine hochauflösende optische Schattenbildtechnik diente zur Aufzeichnung der Hauptphasen des Blasenlebenszyklus: Blasenerzeugung, Blasenwachstum, Blasenablösung, Blasengleiten und Blasenabriss. In dieser Arbeit wurden die der Blasenablösung vorrausgehenden Phasen untersucht. Blasenhöhe, Blasenbreite, Blasenbasisdurchmesser und Schwerpunkt der Blase wurden mit Hilfe der Bildverarbeitung ermittelt. Der blasenäquivalente Durchmesser wurde mittels des geometrischen Mittelwertes, der Blasenbreite und der Blasenhöhe berechnet. Basierend auf den Messdaten können folgende Erkenntnisse für das Blasenwachstum und den Blasenablösemechanismus postuliert werden: (i) Eine höhere Wärmeströmedichte führen zu größen Blasen und kürzeren Wachstumsperioden. Der Einfluss der Oberflächenbenetzbarkeit und der Oberflächenrauigkeit auf die Blasendynamik zeigt ähnliche Tendenzen für Naturkonvektion und aufwärtsgerichtetes Strömungssieden. (ii) Eine höhere Flüssigkeitskontaktwinkelhysterese führt zu einer schnelleren Expansion der Blasenbasis und zu einem schnellern Blasenwachstum. Für gut benetzbare Oberflächen bewegt sich der Blasenschwerpunkt schneller entlang der Strömungsrichtung. Für Oberflächen mit geringer Benetzbarkeit ist die Blasengröße vor der Blasenablösung größer und die Ablöseperiode länger. Der mittlere Blasenablösedurchmesser für unterschiedliche Hauptströmungsgeschwindigkeiten der Flüssigkeit erhöht sich von 0,75 auf 1,75 mm bei zunehmender Flüssigkeitskontaktwinkelhysterese von 42,32° auf 62,30°. (iii) Eine, bezogen auf die Mikrogrenzschichtdicke, optimale Oberflächenrauigkeit erhöht die Blasenwachstumsrate und die Blasengröße. Dieses Ergebnis ist bisher einzigartig bei der Untersuchung der Einzelblasendynamik beim Blasensieden. Die Expansion der Blasenbasis und der Blasenwachstumsrate erreicht ein Maximum für das gemittelte Quadrat der Rauigkeit (Sq) im Bereich zwischen 0,156 und 0,202 m für Naturzirkulation. Für aufwärtsgerichtetes Strömungssieden war die Expansion der Blasenbasis und die Blasenwachstumsrate für Sq-Werte zwischen 0,108 und 0,218 m maximal. Der Blasenablösedurchmesser wurde für einen großen Bereich der Hauptströmungsgeschwindigkeiten und Wärmestromedichte gemittelt. Das Maximum des mittleren Ablösedurchmessers wurde für die Oberfläche mit einem Wert von Sq = 0,218 m erreicht. Die Oberflächenrauigkeit erweitert die Wärmeübertragungsoberfläche neben der Blasenbasis. Der Einfluss der Oberflächenrauigkeitshöhe auf die Blasen hängt von der Mikrogrenzschichtdicke sowie vom Blasenbasisradius ab. Das Modell der Mikrogrenzschichtdicke von Cooper und Lloyd [1] und die konzeptionelle Idee zur Störung der Mikrogrenzschicht durch die Rautiefe von Sriraman [2] wurden analysiert. Es wurde nachgewiesen, dass die Oberflächenrauigkeit die effektive Mikrogrenzschichtdicke und die dazugehörige Wärmeübertragung beeinflusst. (iv) Es wurden geringere Blasenwachstumsraten für höhere Hauptströmungs-geschwindigkeiten gemessen. Weiterhin reduzieren sich der Blasenablösedurchmesser sowie Ablöseperioden mit zunehmender Hauptströmungsgeschwindigkeit bei unterschiedlichen Wärmeoberflächencharakteristiken. Bei niedrigen Hauptströmungs-geschwindigkeiten im Bereich zwischen ungefähr 0,052 und 0,16 m/s reduziert sich der durchschnittliche Blasenablösedurchmesser deutlich. Die experimentellen Ergebnisse zeigen einen wesentlichen Einfluss der Oberflächenbeschaffenheit auf das Blasenwachstum und den Ablöseprozess beim Blasensieden. Um diesen Einfluss numerisch zu charakterisieren, wurde ein neues Blasenwachstumsmodel entwickelt. Existierende Blasenwachstumsmodelle berücksichtigen den umfangreichen Einfluss der Oberfläche des Heizers bisher nicht. Das vorgeschlagene Model bezieht die plausibelsten Mechanismen des Blasensiedens mit ein. Dazu zählen: Mikrogrenzschichtverdampfung im Bereich der Austrocknung, trägheits- und wärmediffusionskontrolliertes Blasenwachstum und Kondensation an der Blasenoberseite. Das Modell berücksichtigt, dass die überhitzte Flüssigkeitsschicht an der Heizerwand durch die wachsende Blase nach außen verdrängt wird und die so gestreckte Flüssigkeitsschicht einen Teil der Blase einhüllt. Kondensation erfolgt an der Blasengrenze, die in Kontakt mit der unterkühlten Flüssigkeit steht, und demzufolge mit der überhitzen Flüssigkeitsschicht nicht in Kontakt kommt. Das vorgeschlagene Blasenwachstumsmodel arbeitet mit drei Konstanten für die beschriebenen Wärmeübertragungsmechanismen beim Blasenwachstum. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Konstante für die effektive Mikrogrenzschichtdicke (Ceff ), eine weitere Konstante 𝑏 ́ für die Wärmediffusion hin zur Blase und der Trägheit sowie letztendlich einer Konstante S zur Abbildung des Kondensationswärmeübergangs, anhand der Beschreibung des Anteils der Blase, welcher in Kontakt mit der unterkühlten Flüssigkeit steht. Die effektive Mikrogrenzschichtdickenkonstante (Ceff) definiert den Einfluss der Heizoberflächencharakteristik auf die Verdampfung der Mikrogrenzschicht und somit die Blasenwachstumsrate beim Blasensieden. Die numerisch berechnete und experimentell gemessene Blasengröße wurde verglichen, um die Mikrogrenzschichtdickenkonstante Ceff zu definieren. Der Einfluss der Kondensation auf Ceff wurde geprüft.:Abstract v Kurzfassung vii Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations and Symbols xv Chapter 1: Introduction and Motivation 1 1.1 General overview 1 1.2 Theoretical background 3 1.3 Objectives and outline of the thesis 7 Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Bubble Dynamics in Nucleate Boiling 9 2.1 Bubble growth in nucleate boiling 9 2.2 Bubble growth models 12 2.3 The physical process of bubble departure 16 2.4 Experimental investigations of bubble dynamics 20 2.4.1 Effects of heater surface characteristics 21 2.4.2 Effects of bulk liquid velocity 24 2.5 Chapter conclusion 26 Chapter 3: Heater Surface Preparation and Characterization 27 3.1 Surface properties 27 3.2 Surface preparation 29 3.2.1 Self-assembled monolayer coating 30 3.2.2 High-power pulsed laser irradiation 31 3.2.3 Wet-etching 32 3.3 Surface cleaning 32 3.4 Surface characterization 32 3.4.1 Wettability measurement 32 3.4.2 Roughness measurement 33 3.4.3 Analysis of surface characteristics 34 3.4.4 Uncertainty of surface parameters 38 3.5 Artificial cavity preparation 38 Chapter 4: Experimental Setup and Procedure 41 4.1 Natural circulation boiling (NCB 41 4.1.1 Experimental procedure and measurement techniques 41 4.1.2 Uncertainty analysis 44 4.2 Upward flow boiling (UFB) 45 4.2.1 Experimental procedure and measurement techniques 45 4.2.2 Uncertainty analysis 48 4.3 Image processing 50 Chapter 5: Experimental Results 53 5.1 Introduction to the analysis of the bubble dynamics 53 5.1.1 The bubble life cycle 53 5.1.2 Calculation of the bubble equivalent diameter 55 5.1.3 Bubble dynamics with the increase of heat flux 57 5.1.4 Qualitative assessment of the bubble dynamics for different parameters 60 5.2 Bubble dynamics 61 5.2.1 Effect of heater surface wettability 61 5.2.2 Effect of heater surface roughness 65 5.2.3 Effect of bulk liquid velocity 70 5.3 Bubble departure 76 5.3.1 Effect of heater surface wettablity 76 5.3.2 Effect of heater surface roughness 76 5.3.3 Effect of bulk liquid velocity 78 5.4 Chapter conclusion 79 Chapter 6: Analysis and Model Development 81 6.1 Numerical evaluation of the role of heater surface characteristics 81 6.1.1 Derivation of an improved bubble growth model 86 6.1.2 Calculation of Ceff 82 6.2 Effect of liquid velocity on the bubble growth 93 6.3 Improved modeling of bubble departure 95 6.3.1 Analysis of important parameters 95 6.3.2 Formulation of a bubble departure criterion 100 6.4 Chapter conclusion 102 Chapter 7: Summary and Outlook 105 Bibliography 109 List of Figures 121 List of Tables 127 Appendix: Surface Parameters and Profile 129