Numerical modeling of the surface topography effects on the saturated pool nucleate boiling curve

A numerical study of saturated pool nucleate boiling with an emphasis on the effect of surface topography is presented. The numerical model consisted of solving the three-dimensional transient heat conduction equation within the heater subjected to nucleate boiling over its upper surface. The surface topography model considered the distribution of the cavity and cavity angles based on exponential and normal probability functions. Parametric results showed that the saturated nucleate boiling curve shifted left and became steeper with an increase in the mean cavity radius. The boiling curve was found to be sensitive to the selection of how many cavities were selected for each octagonal cell. A small variation in the statistical parameters, especially cavity radii for smooth surfaces, resulted in noticeable differences in wall superheat for a given heat flux. This result indicated that while the heat transfer coefficient increased with cavity radii, the cavity radii or height alone was not sufficient to characterize the boiling curve. It also suggested that statistical experimental data should consider large samples to characterize the surface topology.