Visualization of pool boiling on downward-facing convex surfaces

Visualizations and quenching experiments were performed to investigate effect of material properties on pool boiling from downward-facing, convex stainless steel and copper surfaces in saturated water. Video images showed that more than one boiling regimes can co-exist on the surface. Maximum heat flux (MHF) occurred first at lowermost position, then propagated radially outward to higher inclination positions and its local value decreased with increased inclination. However, the wall superheats corresponding to MHF were independent of the local surface inclinations. MHF propagated ∼10 times slower on stainless-steel than on copper and was ∼12% and 40% lower on stainless-steel than on copper at θ = 0 degree and θ 7.91 degree, respectively. Results confirmed that transition boiling consisted of two distinct regions: high wall superheat, in which heat flux increased relatively slowly, and low wall superheat, in which heat flux increased precipitously with time. Nuclear boiling regime also consisted of two distinct regions: high heat flux nucleate boiling, in which heat flux decreased with increased inclination, and low heat flux nucleate boiling, in which heat flux increased with increased inclination