Master of Science / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Donald L. Fenton / Increase in demand for energy necessitates nuclear power units to increase their peak power limits. This increase implies significant changes in the design of the nuclear power unit core in order to provide better economy and safety in operations. A major hindrance to the increase of nuclear reactor performance especially in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) is the so called ‘Axial Offset Anomaly (AOA)’. An Axial Offset Anomaly (AOA) is the unexpected change in the core axial power distribution during the operation of a PWR from the predicted distribution. This problem is thought to be occurring because of precipitation and deposition of lithiated compounds such as lithium metaborate (LiBO[subscript]2) on the fuel rod. Due to its intrinsic property, the deposited boron absorbs neutrons thereby affecting the total power distribution in the reactor. AOA is thought to occur when there is sufficient build up of crud deposits on the cladding during subcooled nucleate boiling. Predicting AOA is difficult because there is little information regarding the heat and mass transfer during subcooled nucleate boiling. This thesis describes the experimental investigation that was conducted to study the heat transfer characteristics during subcooled nucleate boiling at prototypical PWR conditions. Pool boiling tests were conducted with varying concentrations of LiBO[subscript]2 and boric acid (H[subscript]2BO[subscript]3) solutions along with deionized water. The experimental data collected includes the effect of coolant concentration, degree of subcooling, system pressure and heat flux on pool boiling heat transfer coefficients. An analysis of deposits formed on the fuel rod during subcooled nucleate boiling is also included in the thesis. The experimental results reveal that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient is degraded by the presence of boric acid and lithium metaborate in water. At concentration of 5000 ppm in water, the boric acid solution reduced the heat transfer coefficient by 23% and lithium metaborate solution reduced the heat transfer coefficient by 26%.

<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>

Steadily increasing heat dissipation in electronic devices has generated renewed interest in direct immersion cooling. The ideal heat transfer fluid for direct immersion cooling applications should be chemically and thermally stable, and compatible with the electronic components. These constraints have led to the use of Novec fluids and fluroinerts as coolants. Although these fluids are chemically stable and have low dielectric constants, they are plagued by poor thermal properties. These factors necessitate the development of new heat transfer fluids with improved heat transfer properties and applicability. Computer Aided Molecular Design (CAMD) approach was used in this work to systematically design novel heat transfer fluids that exhibit significantly better properties than those of current high performance electronic coolants. The candidate fluids generated by CAMD were constrained by limiting their boiling points, latent heat of vaporization and thermal conductivity. The selected candidates were further screened using a figure of merit (FOM) analysis. Some of the fluids/additives that have been identified after the FOM analysis include C₄H₅F₃O, C₄H₄F₆O, C₆H₁₁F₃, C₄ H₁₂O₂Si, methanol, and ethoxybutane. The heat transfer performance of these new fluids/fluid mixtures was analyzed through pool boiling and flow boiling experiments. All the fluid mixtures tested showed an improvement in the critical heat flux (CHF) when compared to the base fluid (HFE 7200). A pool boiling model was developed using the phase field method available in COMSOL. Although these simulations are computationally expensive, they provide an alternate solution to evaluate several candidate fluids generated using the CAMD approach.

Interest in the use of heat pipe technology for heat recovery and energy saving in a vast range of engineering applications has been on the rise in recent years. Heat pipes are playing a more important role in many industrial applications, especially in increasing energy savings in commercial applications and improving the thermal performance of heat exchangers. Computational techniques play an important role in solving complex flow problems for a large number of engineering applications due to their universality, flexibility, accuracy and efficiency. However, up to now, computational studies on heat pipes are still at an early stage due to the complexity of multiphase flow characteristics and heat and mass transfer phase changes. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to develop a CFD modelling that includes the complex physical phenomena of both the heat transfer processes of evaporation and condensation and the mass transfer process of phase change during the pool boiling and film condensation. In this thesis, two novel numerical models were developed in ANSYS FLUENT. In the first, a two-dimensional CFD model was developed to visualise the two-phase flow and the evaporation, condensation and heat transfer phenomena during the operation of a wickless heat pipe, that otherwise could not be visualised by empirical or experimental work. An in-house code was developed using user-defined functions (UDFs) to enhance the ability of FLUENT to simulate the phase change occurring inside the heat pipe. Three different fluids, water, R134a and R404a, were selected as the working fluids of the investigated wickless heat pipe. The cooling system of the condenser section was simulated separately as a three-dimensional CFD model of a parallel-flow double pipe heat exchanger to model the heat transfer across the condenser section's heat exchanger and predict the heat transfer coefficients. The overall effective thermal resistance along with the temperature profile along the wickless heat pipe have been investigated. An experimental apparatus was built to carry out a thermal performance investigation on a typical wickless heat pipe for the purpose of validating the CFD simulation. A theoretical model based on empirical correlations was developed to predict the heat transfer thermal resistances in the evaporator and the condenser section. The second model was developed to combine the two-dimensional CFD simulation of the wickless heat pipe and the three-dimensional CFD simulation of the condenser section's heat exchanger to simulate the two-phase flow phenomena of boiling and condensation and the cooling system of the condenser section through a comprehensive three-dimensional CFD model of a wickless heat pipe. Two fluids, water and R134a, were selected as the working fluids of the investigated wickless heat pipe. This model was validated using a transparent glass wickless heat pipe to visualise the phenomena of pool boiling and comparing the results with the three-dimensional CFD flow visualisation. This study demonstrated that the proposed CFD models of a wickless heat pipe can successfully reproduce the complex physical phenomena of both the heat transfer process of evaporation and condensation and the mass transfer process of phase change during the pool boiling that takes place in the evaporator section and the filmwise condensation that takes place in the condenser section. The CFD simulation was successful in modelling and visualising the multiphase flow characteristics for water, R134a and R404a, emphasising the difference in pool boiling behaviour between these working fluids. The CFD simulation results were compared with experimental measurements, with good agreement obtained between predicted temperature profiles and experimental temperature data.

The use of nanofluids as heat transfer fluids has received a lot of attention from the heat transfer research community. Due to the increased thermal conductivity of nanofluids over their base fluids, the number of nanofluids scientific publications increased significantly in the past decade. The effects of the heated surface roughness, nanoparticles and surfactant concentrations on pool boiling of nanofluids have been thoroughly investigated. However, contradicting findings have been observed under what appeared to similar test conditions. In this experimental investigation, two boiling surfaces have been prepared with an average surface roughness of 6 and 60 nm using high precision machining. Alumina Oxide-Water based nanofluids have been used in this investigation. The initial nanoparticle size reported by the manufacturer is 10 nm. The nanoparticles concentration has been kept at 0.05 wt. %. A Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) surfactant has been added to the nanofluids in order to improve its stability. Results showed that the nanofluids boiling performance depended on the boiling surface roughness. The heat transfer coefficient (HTC) obtained in the case of the smooth, mirror finished surface showed an enhancement of 205% with respect to pure water. This trend was reversed in the case of the rough surface which is believed to be due to significant nanoparticles deposition. The HTC obtained with the rough surface was 12% lower than that of pure water. The effect of the surfactant concentration on nanoparticles deposition has been investigated by changing the surfactant concentration from 0.1 to 1.0 wt. %. In the case of the rough surface, the increase of surfactant concentration was found to reduce the formation of the nanoparticles deposition layer. The HTC obtained with the higher surfactant concentration was increased by 46 %. The effect of nanoparticles concentration on the smooth surface shows an unexpected trend of 20 % reduction of the transfer rate of the nanofluids coupled with the increase of the nanoparticle concentration from 0.05 to 0.1 wt. %. However all concentrations showed heat transfer enhancement with respect to pure water. The minimum heat transfer coefficient ratio enhancement was 11 % using 0.1 wt. % nanofluids with respect to pure water. Since nanoparticles deposition has been observed and attributed to micro-layer evaporation, an investigation has been carried out to examine the nucleation process during the pure water and nanofluids pool boiling. The bubble growth rate in both cases was analyzed at different wall degrees of superheat ranging from 104.3 to 105.9 ºC. In addition, the bubble departure diameter and frequency have been measured and compared for both cases. The nanofluid bubble size was about 80 % smaller than that of pure water. The nanofluid bubble departure had almost constant frequency of 500 Hz over the range of wall superheats whereas the maximum bubble frequency in the case of pure water was 22.72 Hz. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

<p>An experimental investigation has been carried out in order to investigate the effect of surface initial conditions, concentration, nanoparticles size and deposition pattern on pool boiling and jet impingement boiling of nanofluids. A flat copper surface with initial conditions of Ra = 420 nm, Ra = 80 nm and Ra = 20 nm has been used as the boiling surface. Al₂O₃ and CuO nanoparticles have been used with de-ionized water to prepare the nanofluids. At 0.01 vol. % concentration of Al₂O_3, the rate of heat transfer enhanced by 41% and 34% for the Ra = 80 nm and Ra = 20 nm, respectively. While, in the case of Ra = 420 nm, the rate of heat transfer deteriorated by 49%. At 0.005 vol. % concentration the rate of heat transfer deteriorated for all three surfaces. It is believed that the deterioration was due to the uniformity of the deposition. Using 0.01 vol. % concentration of CuO nanofluids resulted in the same trend, however, the rate of heat transfer is less compared to using Al₂O₃nanofluids. For example, in the case of Ra = 80 nm, the rate of heat transfer was reduced by 14%.</p> <p>The effect of nanoparticles size has been investigated by changing the nanoparticles size from 50 nm to 10 nm. The change in nanoparticles size resulted in a significant deterioration in the rate of heat transfer for all three surfaces. It is believed that the deterioration was due to the deposition uniformity. As the deposition uniformity has been found to be a major factor that affects the rate of heat transfer, new approach was introduced to quantify the effect of the rate of deposition on the pool boiling of nanofluids.</p> <p>An experimental investigation has been carried out in order to investigate using submerged impingement jet on the rate of heat transfer using nanofluids. At of 0.005 vol. % concentration of Al₂O₃, surface with Ra = 80 nm, jet to surface vertical distance of 3 mm and Reynolds number of 101311, the rate of heat transfer deteriorated by 19%.</p> <p>Comparing the pool boiling and jet impingement boiling of nanofluids showed that, in the case of jet impingement boiling, the rate of heat transfer was enhanced compared to the case of pool boiling and the deposition was less. However, jet impingement boiling experiments showed deterioration in the rate of heat transfer by 19% compared with pure water.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Steven J. Eckels / The current research presents the experimental investigation of the effect of tube pitch on enhanced tube bundles’ performance. The typical application of this research is flooded refrigerant evaporators. Boosting evaporator’s performance through optimizing tube spacing reduces cost and energy consumption. R-134a with the enhanced tube Turbo BII-HP and R-123 with Turbo BII-LP were used in this study. Three tube pitches were tested P/D 1.167, P/D 1.33, and P/D 1.5. Each tube bundle includes 20 tubes (19.05 mm outer diameter and 1 m long each) constructed in four passes. The test facility’s design allows controlling three variables, heat flux, mass flux, and inlet quality. The type of analysis used is local to one location in the bundle. This was accomplished by measuring the water temperature drop in the four passes. The water-side pressure drop is included in the data analysis. A new method called the EBHT (Enthalpy Based Heat Transfer) was introduced, which uses the water-side pressure drop in performing the heat transfer analysis. The input variables ranges are: 15-55 kg/m².s for mass flux, 5-60 kW/m² for heat flux, and 10-70% for inlet quality. The effect of local heat flux, local quality, and mass flux on the local heat transfer coefficient was investigated. The comparison between the bundle performance and single tube performance was included in the results of each tube bundle. The smallest tube pitch has the lowest performance in both refrigerants, with a significantly lower performance in the case of R-134a. However, the two bigger tube pitches have very similar performance at low heat flux. Moreover, the largest tube pitch performance approaches that of the single tube at medium and high heat fluxes. For the R-123 study, the smallest tube bundle experienced quick decease in performance at high qualities, exhibiting tube enhancement dry-out at certain flow rates and high qualities. The flow pattern effect was demonstrated by the dry-out phenomena. At medium and high heat fluxes, as the tube pitch increases, the performance approaches that of the single tube. All tube bundles experience quick decrease in performance at high qualities. Evidently, P/D 1.33 is the optimum tube pitch for the studied refrigerants and enhanced tubes combinations.

L’ébullition est un mode de transfert de chaleur très efficace utilisé dans de nombreux systèmes technologiques comme les centrales nucléaires ou refroidissement de micro-électronique. La prédiction des échanges thermiques par ébullition reste actuellement très délicate, en raison de la complexité du phénomène, malgré des décennies de recherche sur le sujet. Le coefficient de transfert thermique est intimement lié à la dynamique de bulles (nucléation des bulles, croissance et détachement) ainsi qu’à des facteurs tels la densité de sites de nucléation ou les interactions entre bulles voisines et successives. La présente étude porte sur l’ébullition saturée sur un site de nucléation artificiel unique (ou deux sites voisins) sur une paroi en cuivre poli. La dynamique de croissance des bulles a été caractérisée pour différentes surchauffes de paroi et une loi expérimentale de croissance a été établie. Les interactions entre bulles successives issues du même site ont été étudiées, montrant qu’elles peuvent provoquer des oscillations de la bulle en croissance. Les forces agissant sur une bulle en croissance ont été clairement définies, et un bilan de quantité de mouvement a été réalisé à tous les stades de la croissance d’une bulle. La courbure le long de l’interface a été mesurée, ce qui a permis de mieux saisir le mécanisme de détachement de la bulle. L’ascension d’une bulle après son détachement a été analysée, et la vitesse maximale atteinte avant un changement de direction a été estimée et comparée aux modèles existants dans la littérature. L’interaction entre bulles croissant côte à côte a été étudiée. La génération et la propagation d’une onde lors de la coalescence a été mise en évidence. Dans le contexte de travaux de recherche sur des techniques d’intensification des échanges thermiques, cette étude se penche particulièrement sur l’intensification par électrohydrodynamique. Des expériences d’ébullition ont été réalisées en présence de champs électriques, et leurs effets sur les transferts thermiques et sur la dynamique des bulles ont été analysés. Bien que le volume au détachement des bulles et la relation entre la fréquence et la surchauffe reste inchangées, la courbe de croissance des bulles est modifiée. Les bulles sont allongées dans la direction du champ électrique, et cette élongation a été estimée et comparée à d’autres résultats de la littérature. La vitesse d’ascension des bulles est réduite en présence de champs électriques, et les interactions de bulles voisines sont modifiées: il s’avère qu’en présence de champs électriques les bulles ont tendance à se repousser. Ces résultats, obtenus dans un environnement parfaitement contrôlé apportent la preuve que la présence de champs électriques modifie la dynamique des bulles et par conséquents les transferts thermiques associés. / Since boiling heat transfer affords a very effective means to transfer heat, it is implemented in numerous technologies and industries ranging from large power generation plants to micro-electronic thermal management. Although having been a subject of research for several decades, an accurate prediction of boiling heat transfer is still challenging due to the complexity of the coupled mechanisms involved. It appears that the boiling heat transfer coefficient is intimately related to bubble dynamics (i.e. bubble nucleation, growth and detachment) as well as factors such as nucleation site density and interaction between neighbouring and successive bubbles. In order to contribute to the understanding of the boiling phenomenon, an experimental investigation of saturated pool boiling from a single or two neighbouring artificial nucleation sites on a polished copper surface has been performed. The bubble growth dynamics has been characterized for different wall superheats and a experimental growth law has been established. The interaction between successive bubbles from the same nucleation site has been studied, showing the bubble shape oscillations that can be caused by these interactions. The forces acting on a growing bubble has been reviewed, and a complete momentum balance has been made for all stages of bubble growth. The curvature along the interface has been measured, and indications concerning the mechanism of bubble detachment have been suggested. The rise of bubble after detachment has been investigated, and the maximum velocity reached before a change of direction has been estimated and compared to existing models from the literature. The interaction between bubbles growing side by side has been studied: the generation and propagation of a wave front during the coalescence of two bubbles has been highlighted. As boiling heat transfer enhancement techniques are being imagined and developed, this study also focuses on the electrohydrodynamic enhancement technique. Boiling experiments have been performed in the presence of electric fields, and their effects on heat transfer and bubble dynamics have been characterized. Although the volume of the bubbles at detachment and the relationship between the bubble frequency and the wall superheat were not affected, the bubble growth curve was modified. The bubbles were elongated in the direction of the electric field, and this elongation was estimated and compared to other studies from the literature. The rising velocity of the bubble was reduced in the presence of electric field, and the behaviour of bubbles growing side by side was modified, the electric field causing the bubbles to repeal each other. These results, obtained in a fully controlled environment, provide compelling evidence that electric fields can be implemented to alter the bubble dynamics and subsequently heat transfer rates during boiling of dielectric fluids.

This graduation thesis is concerned with a thermal exchange unit issue whereof one working substance complies with a two-phase mode of a flow. This unit is made for the steam generation. The thesis is supposed to solve operation problems causes of the given unit and to make a proposal of an appropriate solution that is supported by performed calculations. Part of the the work is strength calculation. This work also introduces the thermal-hydraulic processes issue of the steam generation equipment. There are also performed thermal-hydraulic control calculations in consideration of newly set-up operation parameters of the given equipment‘s working substances.

<p>This thesis deals with the engineering of novel nanomaterials, particularly nanocomposites and nanostructured surfaces with enhanced functionalities. The study includes two parts; in the first part, an in situ sol-gel polymerization approach is used for the synthesis of polymer-inorganic hybrid material and its exceptional transparent UV-shielding effect has been investigated. In the second part, electrodeposition process has been adapted to engineer surfaces and the boiling performance of the fabricated nanostructured surfaces is evaluated.</p><p>In the first part of the work, polymer-inorganic hybrid materials composed of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and zinc compounds were prepared by in situ sol-gel transition polymerization of zinc complex in PMMA matrix. The immiscibility of heterophase of solid organic and inorganic constituents was significantly resolved by an in situ sol-gel transition polymerization of ZnO nanofillers within PMMA in the presence of dual functional agent, monoethanolamine, which provided strong secondary interfacial interactions for both complexing and crosslinking of constituents.</p><p>In the second part of the work, nanoengineering on the surface of copper plates has been performed in order to enhance the boiling heat transfer coefficient. Micro-porous surfaces with dendritic network of copper nanoparticles have been obtained by electrodeposition with dynamic templates. To further alter the grain size of the dendritic branches, the nanostructured surfaces underwent a high temperature annealing treatment.</p><p>Comprehensive characterization methods of the polymer-inorganic hybrid materials and nanoengineered surfaces have been undertaken. XRD, 1H NMR, FT-IR, TGA, DSC, UV-Vis, ED, SEM, TEM and HRTEM have been used for basic physical properties. Pool boiling tests were performed to evaluate the boiling performance of the electrodeposited nanostructured micro-porous structures.</p><p>The homogeneous PZHM exhibited enhanced UV-shielding effects in the entire UV range even at very low ZnO content of 0.02 wt%. Moreover, the relationship between band gap and particle size of incorporated ZnO by sol-gel process was in good agreement with the results calculated from the effective mass model between bandgap and particle size. The fabricated enhanced surface has shown an excellent performance in nucleate boiling. At heat flux of 1 W/cm2, the heat transfer coefficient is enhanced over 15 times compared to a plain reference surface. A model has been presented to explain the enhancement based on the structure characteristics.</p>