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Oscillatory behaviors in initial film boiling: Implications on the triggerability of single droplet vapor explosions

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Abstract

A transient one-dimensional film boiling model was developed to study the film boiling dynamics that would occur when a hot spherical droplet is immersed in cold liquid. The focus of this study was to investigate the effects of noncondensible gas, liquid temperature, droplet temperature, and ambient pressure on film boiling during the initial growth phase. The results indicate that the film generally stablizes with more noncondensible gas present, higher liquid and lower droplet temperature. Small ambient pressurizations cause violent fluctuations of the film pressure while higher ambient pressure suppresses these oscillations. These qualitative behavior of film boiling around hot spherical droplet suggests that the spontaneous triggering of small-scale single droplet vapor explosions is led by the oscillatory characteristics of vapor film in its initial growth phase.

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Abbreviations

C :

Noncondensible gas constant

C p :

Specific heat at constant pressure

d :

Diameter of spherical droplet

G :

Universal gas constant

h :

Enthalpy

h fg :

Latent heat of vaporization of cold liquid

k :

Thermal conductivity

m :

Mass

P :

Pressure

P co :

Saturation pressure ofT co

q″ :

Heat transfer rate per unit area

R :

Radius of spherical droplet

Re :

Reynolds number

r :

Radial coordinate

T :

Temperature

T co :

Temperature of vapor-liquid interface at the liquid side

T vs :

Temperature of vapor-liquid interface at the vapor side

t :

Time

u :

Radial velocity of liquid at vapor-liquid interface

V :

Volume

W :

Mechanical work of film formation

α:

Thermal diffusivity

β:

Accommodation coefficient

γ:

Specific heat ratio of gas

δ:

Film thickness

ε:

Emissivity of hot spherical droplet

θ:

Surface tension

λ:

Thermal boundary layer thickness

μ:

Dynamic viscosity

ρ:

Density

σ:

Stefan-Boltzman constnat

*:

Normalised variable

b :

Base line parameter

c :

Cold liquid

f :

Film

h :

Hot droplet

v :

Vapor

g :

Noncondensible gas

g o :

Nocondensible gas at intial state

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical, Engineering, Hongik University, 121-791, Seoul, Korea

    Byong-Joo Kim

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  1. Byong-Joo Kim
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Kim, BJ. Oscillatory behaviors in initial film boiling: Implications on the triggerability of single droplet vapor explosions. KSME Journal 3, 153–158 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02953601

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02953601

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