Direct calculation of bubble growth, departure, and rise in nucleate pool boiling

A mesh-free numerical method (MPS-MAFL) is presented for the analysis of gas-liquid two-phase flows. In this method, a particle method (MPS) is combined with a gridless method (MAFL) for an arbitrary-lagrangian-Eulerian calculation. Gas-liquid two-phase flows are calculated directly by the present method with and without the phase change. As an isothermal flow, a gas bubble rising in viscous liquids is simulated numerically and the results are compared with the empirical correlation. The energy equation is coupled with the equation of motion for the calculation of nucleate pool boiling. Numerical results are provided for the bubble growth rate, departure radius, and the heat transfer rate, which show a good agreement with experimental observations. The heat transfer mechanism associated with nucleate pool boiling is evaluated quantitatively and discussed with previous empirical studies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.