Experimental analysis of a single vapor bubble condensing in subcooled liquid

✍ Scribed by H. Kalman; Y.H. Mori

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 183 KB
• Volume: 85
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/s1385-8947(01)00150-4

✦ Synopsis

An experimental investigation of the dynamics of, and the heat transfer to, the vapor bubbles condensing in a miscible or an immiscible liquid is presented in this paper. Unpublished experiments of Freon-113, pentane and hexane bubbles condensing in water and Freon-113 bubbles condensing in subcooled Freon-113 are analyzed and compared to previously published experiments of pentane/water, isopentane/water and pentane/glycerol systems. The experimental results of both the mechanical and thermal behaviors are compared to existing models. Throughout the comparison, we examine the effect of the shape and rigidity of condensing bubbles as well as the effects of the contaminants and noncondensibles on the velocity of, and the heat transfer to, the bubbles. Empirical correlations for the drag coefficient and the Nusselt number for a wide range of experimental parameters are developed. These correlations are simple to use (especially in contrast to existing complicated models requiring numerical solutions) and agree well with the experimental results.