Numerical Study of Bubble Growth on a Hydrophilic Surface

Morphology of the bubble plays a vital role in determining heat transfer behaviour in nucleate pool boiling. Surface wettability, thermal conditions and the gravity level have a remarkable influence on morphological evolution of the bubble. Present work deals with the study of dynamic and heat transfer behaviour of a growing bubble in nucleate pool boiling on a hydrophilic surface by considering water as the working fluid. Computations have been performed by using commercial software ANSYS Fluent 2021 R1 in which volume of fluid method (VOF) has been employed for interface capturing at the liquid–vapour interface. The contribution of evaporation in the micro region has been considered. The effect of super heat level at normal and microgravity conditions has been analysed for a particular contact angle (Ca) between the surface and the bubble. Results indicate that the influence of increase in wall superheat on morphological evaluation of bubble is more pronounced under reduced gravity conditions. The impact of Ca also has been studied. It is observed that an increase in Ca leads to increment in both the departure diameter (Dd) and growth time of the bubble.