Effect of Orientation on Pool Boiling Heat Transfer in Annulus with Small Gap

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of the inclination angle on the nucleate pool boiling of saturated water at atmospheric pressure. We considered an annulus with a gap of 5 mm and a bottom opening. The inner tube of the annulus was heated, and the outer diameter and the length of the tube were 25.4 mm and 500 mm, respectively. The inclination angle was varied from horizontal to vertical. The results were compared to those for an annulus with a larger gap and a single tube. In the small-gap annulus, the effect of the inclination angle on the heat transfer was not significant. However, an early onset of the critical heat flux was observed at 80 kW/m2 when the annulus was horizontal. Liquid agitation and bubble coalescence were considered to be the major heat-transfer mechanisms