A numerical simulation of nucleate boiling of water on inclined and rough surfaces

Wasim Khan; Mayank Singh; M. Siraj Alam

doi:10.1515/cppm-2025-0008

Article

A numerical simulation of nucleate boiling of water on inclined and rough surfaces

Wasim Khan , Mayank Singh and M. Siraj Alam

Published/Copyright: June 18, 2025

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From the journal Chemical Product and Process Modeling Volume 20 Issue 4

Abstract

This investigation presents nucleate pool boiling of water using an experimental setup as well as through numerical simulation. The experimental setup consists of a 10 × 8 square inch boiling vessel and a 5-inch horizontal copper heating plate with cartridge electrical heater. Further, 2D numerical simulation on similar geometry was also performed using RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) boiling model in commercial simulation software FLUENT Release 16.2 (of Fluent Inc., USA). The results were validated with the experimental data of this investigation as well as with the data available in various literature. Thereafter, the simulation model for the horizontal surface was extended to study the effects of variation in the angle of inclination of the base heater plate from 0° to 45° in intervals of 5°, keeping the heating surface towards the boiling liquid. Further, the effects of heating surface roughness were also studied. On comparing the data with the horizontal surface, the heat transfer was found to be dependent upon the angle of inclination of heating surface and an increasing trend in heat transfer coefficient was observed, while the onset of bubble formation for all the angles was observed at the lowermost position of the plate, heading upwards. The computational study of roughness over heater plate was also cogent enough to conclude enhancement in heat transfer over treated surfaces.

Keywords: CFD; nucleate boiling; rough surface; simulation

Corresponding author: M. Siraj Alam, Department of Chemical Engineering, MNNIT Allahabad, 211004, Prayagraj, India, E-mail: msalam@mnnit.ac.in

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to MNNIT ALLAHABAD for providing necessary support to carry out this study.

Research ethics: Not applicable.
Informed consent: Not applicable.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
Research funding: None declared.
Data availability: Not applicable.

Nomenclature

A _b: Portion of wall surface covered by nucleating bubble
A _i: Interfacial area
C _wt: Coefficient for bubble waiting time
C _pl,C _pv: Liquid and vapor heat capacity
D _b,D _d: Bubble and dispersed-phase diameter
d _bw: Bubble departure diameter
f _bw: Bubble departure frequency
F →: Inter-phase momentum forces
g: Gravity
h: Heat transfer coefficients
H _lv: Latent heat
H _q: Specific enthalpy
H _rq,H _qr: Inter-phase enthalpy
k _l: Liquid heat conductivity
m ˙: Rate of mass transfer
n: Number of phases
N _w: Nucleate site density
p _rl: Liquid Prandtl number
q ˙: Heat flux
S _q,S _H.q: External mass and heat source
S _ϕ,q: General turbulence model source term
S _c,S _p: Linearized source terms in discretized transport equations
t: Time
T _w,T _q: Wall and phase static temperature
T _sat: Liquid saturation temperature
v →: Velocity vector
V _b: Near-wall bulk velocity
V q e n: Normal velocity component at face “e”
Δt: Time step
ΔT _sub: Liquid subcool
ΔT _sup: Wall superheat

Greek letters

α: Phase volume fraction
β: Contact angle in degrees
γ: Fluid/phase heat diffusivity
ω: General interfacial quantities
ρ: Phase density
ϕ: General scalar
μ:: Dynamic viscosity
σ: Surface tension coefficient
Γ: Diffusion coefficient

Subscripts

q, r: qth and rth phase
l,v,c,d: Liquid, vapor, continuous and disperse phase
C: convection
Q: quenching
E: evaporation
I: liquid-vapor interface
w: wall

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Received: 2025-01-13

Accepted: 2025-04-15

Published Online: 2025-06-18

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/cppm-2025-0008

Keywords for this article

CFD; nucleate boiling; rough surface; simulation