Numerical simulation of vapor bubble growth on a vertical superheated wall using lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for numerical simulation of nucleate boiling and transition boiling. In addition, the processes of nucleate and transition boiling on vertical wall are simulated. The heat transfer mechanism is discussed based on the evolution of temperature field.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, nucleate boiling and transition boiling are numerically investigated by LBM. A lattice Boltzmann (LB) multiphase model combining with a LB thermal model is used to predict the phase-change process.

Findings

Numerical results are in good agreement with existing experimental results. Numerical results confirm the feasibility of the hybrid LBM for direct simulations of nucleate and transition boiling. The data exhibit correct parametric dependencies of bubble departure diameter compared with experimental correlation and relevant references.

Research limitations/implications

All the simulations are performed in two-dimensions in this paper. In the future work, the boiling process will be simulated in three-dimensional.

Practical implications

This study demonstrated a potential model that can be applied to the investigation of phase change heat transfer, which is one of the effective techniques for enhance the heat transfer in engineering. The numerical results can be considered as a basic work or a reference for generalizing LB method in the practical application about nucleate boiling and transition boiling.

Originality/value

The hybrid LBM is first used for simulation of nucleate and transition boiling on vertical surface. Heat transfer mechanism during boiling is discussed based on the numerical results.

Citation

Sun, T., Li, W. and Dong, B. (2015), "Numerical simulation of vapor bubble growth on a vertical superheated wall using lattice Boltzmann method", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 1214-1230. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-08-2013-0263