Possible Mechanism for Formation of Nonwettable “Dry Spots” on a Heated Surface during Nucleate Pool Boiling: II. Feedwater Stop Regime

Abstract

The problems of simulation of heterogeneous nucleate pool boiling on a horizontal surface on the ascending branch of the boiling curve from the formation of a steam lens (SL) to the boiling crisis are considered. The proposed hypothesis provides in a number of cases a logically consistent interpretation of experiments and outlines the organizational principle of transferring the wall–liquid–steam system into the regime of nonwettable “dry spot” formation. The model includes the following types of nucleate boiling: (a) cyclic boiling with the contact line reverse to the bubble bottom center and bubble departure from the surface (at low heat flux q and the contact angle θ < 90°); (b) single steam bubble conversion into a steam lens, i.e., local film boiling with the possibility of spreading of a single “dry spot” at the variation of the contact angle θ ≥ 90°, and substantial growth of the departure diameter D_d and SL lifetime τd; (c) formation of a single steam cluster of four SLs at a given pressure, the liquid underheating, and the average wall overheating.