BOILING

Md. Osman Ali

Lecturer
Department of Mechanical Engineering
DUET, Gazipur.
 Phase change hat transfer
Heat transfer occurs when objects with different temperatures come into contact,

Phase change heat transfer is a broad field that finds

applications in almost all of the engineering applications.
Liquid → Gas: Vaporization
Gas → Liquid: Condensation
Solid → Liquid: Melting or
fusion
Liquid → Solid: Freezing or
Solidification
Solid → Gas: Sublimation

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 BOILING
Boiling is the liquid-to-vapor phase change process
that occurs at a solid-liquid interface when the
surface is heated above the saturation temperature
of the liquid. The formation and rise of the bubbles
and the liquid entrainment coupled with the large
amount of heat absorbed during liquid-vapor phase
change at essentially constant temperature are
responsible for the very high heat transfer
coefficients associated with nucleate boiling.
A liquid-to-vapor phase change process is called
evaporation if it originates at a liquid–vapor
interface and boiling if it occurs at a solid–liquid
interface.

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 Evaporation
Evaporation occurs at the liquid–vapor interface when
the vapor pressure is less than the saturation pressure
of the liquid at a given temperature.
Examples of evaporation are
-the drying of clothes, fruits, and vegetables;
-the evaporation of sweat to cool the human body; and
-the rejection of waste heat in wet cooling towers.

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 BOILING VS Evaporation
Boiling Evaporation
1)Boiling is a liquid to 1)Evaporation is also a liquid to
vapour phase changing vapour phase changing process.
process.
2)It occurs solid to liquid 2)It occurs liquid to vapour
interface. interface.
3)Bubbles are create. 3)Bubbles does not create.
4) Heat transfer rate is more. 4) Heat transfer rate is high.
5)It occurs above saturation 5)It occurs below saturation
temperature. temperature.
6)Faster process. 6)Slower process.
7)Boiling does not produce 7)Evaporation produce cooling.
cooling. Example-vapour in pond
Example-Boiler
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 TYPES OF BOILING
Boiling is classified as pool boiling or flow boiling,
depending on the presence of bulk fluid motion. Boiling is
called pool boiling in the absence of bulk fluid flow and flow
boiling (or forced convection boiling) in the presence of it.
 In pool boiling, the fluid body is stationary, and any
motion of the fluid is due to natural convection currents
and the motion of the bubbles under the influence of
buoyancy. The boiling of water in a pan on top of a stove
is an example of pool boiling. Pool boiling of a fluid can
also be achieved by placing a heating coil in the fluid.
 In flow boiling, the fluid is forced to move in a heated
pipe or over a surface by external means such as a pump.
Therefore, flow boiling is always accompanied by other
convection effects.

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 TYPES OF BOILING
Pool and flow boiling are further
classified as subcooled boiling or
saturated boiling, depending on the
bulk liquid temperature. When the
heated surface is submerged below a
free surface of liquid, the process is
referred to as pool boiling. If the
temperature of the liquid is below
the saturation temperature, the
process is called subcooled, or
local, boiling. If the liquid is
maintained at saturation
temperature, the process is known as
saturated, or bulk, boiling.
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 PHYSICAL MECHANISM OF BOILING
When a surface is exposed to a liquid and is maintained at
a temperature above the saturation temperature of the
liquid, boiling may occur, and the heat flux will depend on
the difference in temperature between the surface and the
saturation temperature.
Boiling, occurs at the solid–liquid interface when a liquid is brought into contact with a surface
maintained at a temperature Ts sufficiently above the saturation temperature Tsat of the liquid.
At 1 atm, for example, liquid water in contact with a solid surface at 110°C boils since the
saturation temperature of water at 1 atm is 100°C. The boiling process is characterized by the
rapid formation of vapor bubbles at the solid–liquid interface that detach from the surface when
they reach a certain size and attempt to rise to the free surface of the liquid. When cooking, we
do not say water is boiling until we see the bubbles rising to the top. Boiling is a complicated
phenomenon because of the large number of variables involved in the process and the complex
fluid motion patterns caused by the bubble formation and growth. As a form of convection heat
transfer, the boiling heat flux from a solid surface to the fluid is expressed from Newton’s law
of cooling as
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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve
Boiling takes different forms, depending on the value of the
excess temperature ΔTexcess. Four different boiling regimes
are observed:
 Natural convection boiling,
 Nucleate boiling,
 Transition boiling, and
 Film boiling
The Boiling regimes are illustrated on the boiling curve in
Fig., which is a plot of boiling heat flux versus the excess
temperature. Although the boiling curve given in this figure is
for water, the general shape of the boiling curve remains the
same for different fluids.
The specific shape of the curve depends on the fluid–
 Heating surface material combination and
 Fluid pressure,
But it is practically independent of the geometry of the
heating surface.
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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve

FIG: Typical boiling curve for water at 1 atm pressure.

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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve

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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve
Natural Convection Boiling (to Point A on the Boiling Curve)
We know from thermodynamics that a pure substance at a specified pressure starts
boiling when it reaches the saturation temperature at that pressure. But in practice we do
not see any bubbles forming on the heating surface until the liquid is heated a few
degrees above the saturation temperature (about 2 to 6°C for water). Therefore, the
liquid is slightly superheated in this case (a metastable condition) and evaporates when
it rises to the free surface. The fluid motion in this mode of boiling is governed by
natural convection currents, and heat transfer from the heating surface to the fluid is by
natural convection. For the conditions of Fig., natural convection boiling ends at an
excess temperature of about 5°C
Nucleate Boiling (Between Points A and C)
The first bubbles start forming at point A of the boiling curve at various preferential sites on the
heating surface. Point A is referred to as the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB). From Fig.,
nucleate boiling exists in the range from about 5°C to about 30°C. The nucleate boiling regime
can be separated into two distinct regions. In region A–B (5°C ≤ ΔTexcess ≤ 10°C), isolated
bubbles are formed at various preferential nucleation sites on the heated surface.

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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve
Nucleate Boiling (Between Points A and C)
In region B–C (10°C ≤ ΔTexcess ≤ 30°C), the heater temperature is further
increased, and bubbles form at such great rates at such a large number of
nucleation sites that they form numerous continuous columns of vapor in the
liquid. These bubbles move all the way up to the free surface, where they break up
and release their vapor content. The large heat fluxes obtainable in this region are
caused by the combined effect of liquid entrainment and evaporation.
Consequently, the heat flux increases at a lower rate with increasing ΔTexcess, and it
reaches a maximum at point C. The heat flux at this point is called the critical (or
maximum) heat flux (CHF), q• max. For water, the critical heat flux exceeds 1
MW/m2. From Newton’s law of cooling, the heat transfer coefficient at point C is h =
q•max/ΔTexcess = (10^6 W/m^2)/30 K = 3.3 × 10^4 W/m2⋅K. For the entire nucleate
boiling range of Fig., the heat transfer coefficient ranges from about 2000 to 30,000
W/m2⋅K

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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve
Transition Boiling (Between Points C and D)
As the heater temperature and thus the ΔTexcess is increased past point C,
the heat flux decreases, as shown in Fig.. This is because a large fraction of
the heater surface is covered by a vapor film, which acts as an insulation due
to the low thermal conductivity of the vapor relative to that of the liquid. In
the transition boiling regime, both nucleate and film boiling partially occur.
Nucleate boiling at point C is completely replaced by film boiling at point D.
Operation in the transition boiling regime, which is also called the unstable
film boiling regime, is avoided in practice. For water, transition boiling
occurs over the excess temperature range from about 30°C to about 120°C.

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 Boiling Regimes and the Boiling Curve
Film Boiling (Beyond Point D)
In this region, the heater surface is completely covered by
a continuous stable vapor film. Point D, where the heat
flux reaches a minimum, is called the Leidenfrost point,
in honor of J. C. Leidenfrost, who observed in 1756 that
liquid droplets on a very hot surface jump around and
slowly boil away. The presence of a vapor film between
the heater surface and the liquid is responsible for the low
heat transfer rates in the film boiling region. The heat
transfer rate increases with increasing excess temperature
as a result of heat transfer from the heated surface to the
liquid through the vapor film by radiation, which becomes
significant at high temperatures.

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 Nucleate Boiling
In the nucleate boiling regime (5°C ≤ ΔTexcess ≤ 30°C), the rate of heat transfer strongly depends
on the nature of nucleation (the number of active nucleation sites on the surface, the rate of bubble
formation at each site, etc.), which is difficult to predict. The type and the condition of the heated
surface also affect the heat transfer.

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 Nucleate vs film Boiling
Nucleate Boiling Film Boiling
Bubbles are created at first Bubbles are created at last
in the region. in the region.

Small bubbles are Larger bubbles are

produced. produced.
Bubbles form slowly. Bubbles form rapidly.
Heat transfer rate is high. Heat transfer rate is low.

Temperature difference is Temperature difference is

less than film boiling. higher than nucleate boiling.

Heat is transferred by Heat is transferred by

convection. Radiation.
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 FLOW BOILING
In flow boiling, the fluid is forced to move by an
external source such as a pump as it undergoes a
phase-change process. The boiling in this case
exhibits the combined effects of convection and pool
boiling. The flow boiling is also classified as either
external or internal flow boiling depending on
whether the fluid is forced to flow over a heated
surface or inside a heated tube.

FIG: The effect of forced convection on

external flow boiling for different flow velocities
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 FLOW BOILING regimes

FIG: Different flow regimes encountered in flow boiling in a tube under forced convection
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 Mathematical problem

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 Mathematical problem

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