Saturated Pool Boiling in Vertical Annulus with Reduced Outflow Area

The mechanisms of pool boiling heat transfer have been studied extensively to design efficient heat transfer devices or to assure the integrity of safety related systems. However, knowledge on pool boiling heat transfer in a confined space is still quite limited. The confined nucleate boiling is an effective technique to enhance heat transfer. Improved heat transfer might be attributed to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient due to vaporization from the thin liquid film on the heating surface or increased bubble activity. According to Cornwell and Houston, the bubbles sliding on the heated surface agitate environmental liquid. In a confined space a kind of pulsating flow due to the bubbles is created and, as a result very active liquid agitation is generated. The increase in the intensity of liquid agitation results in heat transfer enhancement. Sometimes a deterioration of heat transfer appears at high heat fluxes for confined boiling. The cause of the deterioration is suggested as active bubble coalescence. Recently, Kang published inflow effects on pool boiling heat transfer in a vertical annulus with closed bottoms. Kang regulated the gap size at the upper regions of the annulus and identified that effects of the reduced gaps on heat transfer become evident as the heat flux increases. This kind of geometry is found in an in-pile test section. Since more detailed analysis is necessary, effects of the outflow area on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer are investigated in this study. Up to the author's knowledge, no previous results concerning to this effect have been published yet