Multi-channel effect of condensation flow in a micro triple-channel condenser

Multi-channel effect is important to understand transport phenomenon in phase change systems with parallel channels. In this paper, visualization studies were performed to study the multi-channel effect in a silicon triple-channel condenser with an aspect ratio of 0.04. Saturated water vapor was pumped into the microcondenser, which was horizontally positioned. The condenser was cooled by the air natural convention heat transfer in the air environment. Flow patterns are either the annular flow at high inlet vapor pressures, or a quasi-stable elongated bubble at the microchannel upstream followed by a detaching or detached miniature bubble at smaller inlet vapor pressures. The downstream miniature bubble was detached from the elongated bubble tip induced by the maximum Weber number there. It is observed that either a single vapor thread or dual vapor threads are at the front of the elongated bubble. A miniature bubble is fully formed by breaking up the vapor thread or threads. The transient vapor thread formation and breakup process is exactly symmetry against the centerline of the center channel. In side channels, the Marangoni effect induced by the small temperature variation over the channel width direction causes the vapor thread formation and breakup process deviating from the side channel centerline and approaching the center channel. The Marangoni effect further forces the detached bubble to rotate and approach the center channel, because the center channel always has higher temperatures, indicating the multi-channel effect. 

Pool boiling heat transfer of ultra-light copper foam with open cells

High speed visualizations and thermal performance studies of pool boiling heat transfer on copper foam covers were performed at atmospheric pressure, with the heating surface area of 12.0 mm by 12.0 mm, using acetone as the working fluid. The foam covers have ppi (pores per inch) from 30 to 90, cover thickness from 2.0 to 5.0 mm, and porosity of 0.88 and 0.95. The surface superheats are from -20 to 190 K, and the heat fluxes reach 140 W/cm(2). The 30 and 60 ppi foam covers show the periodic single bubble generation and departure pattern at low surface superheats. With continuous increases in surface superheats, they show the periodic bubble coalescence and/or re-coalescence pattern. Cage bubbles were observed to be those with liquid filled inside and vented to the pool liquid. For the 90 ppi foam covers, the bubble coalescence takes place at low surface superheats. At moderate or large surface superheats, vapor fragments continuously escape to the pool liquid. Boiling curves of copper foams show three distinct regions. Region I and II are those of natural convection heat transfer, and nucleate boiling heat transfer for all the foam covers. Region III is that of either a resistance to vapor release for the 30 and 60 ppi foam covers, or a capillary-assist liquid flow towards foam cells for the 90 ppi foam covers. The value of ppi has an important effect on the thermal performance. Boiling curves are crossed between the high and low ppi foam covers. Low ppi foams have better thermal performance at low surface superheats, but high ppi foams have better one at moderate or large surface superheats and extend the operation range of surface superheats. The effects of other factors such as pool liquid temperature, foam cover thickness on the thermal performance are also discussed.

A three-dimensional analytical solution of the microheater temperature before bubble nucleation

A three-dimensional analytical solution of the microheater temperature based on heat diffusion equation is developed and compared with experimental results. Dimensionless parameters are introduced to analyze the temperature rise time and the distribution under steady state. To study the microheater temperatures before bubble nucleation, a set of working fluids and microheaters are considered. It is shown that the dimensionless time xi(-)(0) required for the temperature rise from room to 95% of the steady state temperature is about 75, not dependent on working fluids and microheaters. Heat transfer to the surrounding liquid is mainly caused by conduction, not by convection and radiation mechanisms. The microheater length affects the surface temperature uniformity, while its width influences the steady temperatures significantly, yielding the transition from heterogeneous to homogeneous nucleation mechanism from square microheaters to narrow line microheaters. 

Periodic bubble emission and appearance of an ordered bubble sequence (train) during condensation in a single microchannel

Condensation of steam in a single microchannel, silicon test section was investigated visually at low flow rates. The microchannel was rectangular in cross-section with a depth of 30 pm, a width of 800 mu m and a length of 5.0 mm, covered with a Pyrex glass to allow for visualization of the bubble formation process. By varying the cooling rate during condensation of the saturated water vapor, it was possible to control the shape, size and frequency of the bubbles formed. At low cooling rates using only natural air convection from the ambient environment, the flow pattern in the microchannel consisted of a nearly stable elongated bubble attached upstream (near the inlet) that pinched off into a train of elliptical bubbles downstream of the elongated bubble. It was observed that these elliptical bubbles were emitted periodically from the tip of the elongated bubble at a high frequency, with smaller size than the channel width. The shape of the emitted bubbles underwent modifications shortly after their generation until finally becoming a stable vertical ellipse, maintaining its shape and size as it flowed downstream at a constant speed. These periodically emitted elliptical bubbles thus formed an ordered bubble sequence (train). At higher cooling rates using chilled water in a copper heat sink attached to the test section, the bubble formation frequency increased significantly while the bubble size decreased, all the while forming a perfect bubble train flowing downstream of the microchannel. The emitted bubbles in this case immediately formed into a circular shape without any further modification after their separation from the elongated bubble upstream. The present study suggests that a method for controlling the size and generation frequency of microbubbles could be so developed, which may be of interest for microfluidic applications. The breakup of the elongated bubble is caused by the large Weber number at the tip of the elongated bubble induced by the maximum vapor velocity at the centerline of the microchannel inside the elongated bubble and the smaller surface tension force of water at the tip of the elongated bubble.

Chemical etching of a GaSb crystal incorporated with Mn grown by the Bridgman method under microgravity conditions

A GaSb crystal incorporated with Mn has been grown by the Bridgman method on the Polizon facility onboard the FOTON-M3 spacecraft. Structural defects and growth striations have been successfully revealed by the chemical etching method. By calculating various parameters of the convection, the striation patterns can be explained, and the critical value of the Taylor number, which characterizes the convective condition of the rotating magnetic field induced azimuthal flow, was shown. The stresses generated during crystal growth can be reflected by the observations of etch pit distribution and other structural defects. Suggestions for improving the space experiment to improve the quality of the crystal are given.

Small-scale turbulent fluctuations beyond Taylor's frozen-flow hypothesis

The space-time cross-correlation function C-T(r, tau) of local temperature fluctuations in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection is obtained from simultaneous two-point time series measurements. The obtained C-T(r, tau) is found to have the scaling form C-T(r(E), 0) with r(E)=[(r-U tau)(2)+ V-2 tau(2)](1/2), where U and V are two characteristic velocities associated with the mean and rms velocities of the flow. The experiment verifies the theory and demonstrates its applications to a class of turbulent flows in which the requirement of Taylor's frozen flow hypothesis is not met.

Kinetic Studies of Gas Flows

Our recent studies on kinetic behaviors of gas flows are reviewed in this paper. These flows have a wide range of background, but share a common feature that the flow Knudsen number is larger than 0.01. Thus kinetic approaches such as the direct simulation Monte Carlo method are required for their description. In the past few years, we studied several micro/nano-scale flows by developing novel particle simulation approach, and investigated the flows in low-pressure chambers and at high altitude. In addition, the microscopic behaviors of a couple of classical flow problems were analyzed, which shows the potential for kinetic approaches to reveal the microscopic mechanism of gas flows.

Extinction of lean near-limit methane/air flames at elevated pressures under normal- and reduced-gravity

perimentally at evaluated pressures and under normal- and micro-gravity conditions utilizing the 3.5 s drop tower of the National Microgravity Laboratory of China. The results showed that under micro-gravity conditions the natural convection is minimized and the flames become more planar and symmetric compared to normal gravity. In both normal- and micro-gravity experiments and for a given strain rate and fuel concentration, the flame luminosity was found to enhance as the pressure increases. On the other hand, at a given pressure, the flame luminosity was determined to weaken as the strain rate decreases. At a given strain rate, the fuel concentration at extinction was found to vary non-monotonically with pressure, namely it first increases and subsequently decreases with pressure. The limit fuel concentration peaks around 3 and 4 atm under normal- and micro-gravity, respectively. The extinction limits measured at micro-gravity were in good agreement with predictions obtained through detailed numerical simulations but they are notably lower compared to the data obtained under normal gravity. The simulations confirmed the non-monotonic variation of flammability limits with pressure, in agreement with previous studies. Sensitivity analysis showed that for pressures between one and 5 atm, the near-limit flame response is dominated by the competition between the main branching, H + O2 ? OH + O, and the pressure sensitive termination, H+O2+M? HO2 + M, reaction. However, for pressures greater than 5 atm it was determined that the HO2 kinetics result in further chain branching in a way that is analogous to the third explosion limit of H2/O2 mixtures. 2010 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaporation of Ethanol Drops on a Heated Substrate Under Microgravity Conditions

We present in this paper results obtained from a parabolic flight campaign regarding ethanol sessile drop evaporation under reduced gravity conditions. Drops are created using a syringe pump by means of injection through a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) substrate. The drops are recorded using a video camera and an infrared camera to observe the thermal motion inside the drop and on the heating substrate. The experimental set-up presented in this paper enables the simultaneous visualization and access to the heat flux density that is transferred to the drop using a heat flux meter placed between the heating block and the PTFE substrate. We evidence original thermal spreading phenomena during the ethanol drop creation on a heated PTFE substrate. The drop exhibits specific behaviour which is discussed here. This work is performed in the frame of a French-Chinese collaboration (project IMPACHT) for future experiments in a Chinese scientific satellite.

Three-Dimensional Linear Instability Analysis of Thermocapillary Return Flow on a Porous Plane

A three-dimensional linear instability analysis of thermocapillary convection in a fluid-porous double layer system, imposed by a horizontal temperature gradient, is performed. The basic motion of fluid is the surface-tension-driven return flow, and the movement of fluid in the porous layer is governed by Darcy's law. The slippery effect of velocity at the fluid-porous interface has been taken into account, and the influence of this velocity slippage on the instability characteristic of the system is emphasized. The new behavior of the thermocapillary convection instability has been found and discussed through the figures of the spectrum.

蒸发相变与界面流动耦合机理研究

本文提出了一种新模型来研究液层在其纯蒸气中的蒸发热动力学特征,尤其是当蒸发界面张力驱动流占主导作用时(如微重力环境中)液层热毛细对流和界面蒸发始终耦合在一起. 气一液界面的传热传质规律有待深入研究. 本文数值模拟研究了蒸发相变界面热毛细对流与蒸发效应的耦合机质,得到了不同蒸发模式和不同强度热毛细对流蒸发液层的温度分布、蒸发速率以及对流流场分布的数值解. 论述了蒸发Biot数和Marangoni数对界面传热传质的影响,发现并解释了蒸发和热毛细耦合的三种模式

微重力环境下材料热物性研究的现状和发展

表面张力、润湿性、黏度和扩散等材料热物理性质是重要的物理化学参数之一,与之有关的诸多表面和界面现象一直吸引着科学研究者的浓厚兴趣,特别在微重力条件下,表面张力梯度引起的Marangoni对流现象等科学还需要人类不断的认识。本文介绍了近些年国内外在微重力环境下材料热物性研究的一些进展。

界面张力引起的流动及界面特征研究

通过对单层流体浮力－热毛细对流和两层流体 B$\acute{\rm e}$nard-Marangoni对流的实验研究，探讨界面张力梯度引起的自然对流的特征及机理问题。考虑到表面张力是温度的函数，对上面是空气(或其蒸汽)的薄液层，加载水平温度梯度将使得气液表面上表面张力分布不均匀，耦合于地面的重力作用，将会驱动薄层流体形成浮力－热毛细对流运动。液层厚度和温度梯度的改变(引起系统长高比、Bond数、Rayleigh数以及Marangoni数的变化)直接影响到薄层流体的对流模式的变化，还可能使得浮力－热毛细对流从稳定发展到不稳定。本研究中以硅油为实验介质，应用高分辨率PIV技术对薄层流体的对流速度场进行了测量，观察到了对流由单胞结构向多胞结构以及由稳定对流向振荡对流的转捩过程，分析给出了对流模式结构变化的规律以及状态转变的临界参数。在浮力－热毛细对流发展过程中，流体表面的变形(形貌)和表面振荡直接反映了热毛细作用与浮力作用的耦合规律以及热毛细对流表面波的基本特征。实验中应用激光干涉技术以及高精度位移传感器对薄液层体系(液层厚度1mm$\sim$5mm)作了系统的研究，获得了微米量级面形形貌变化规律及其亚微米尺度的表面振荡特性。用FFT以及小波分析方法研究了流体自由面振荡的分岔转捩过程及通往混沌的转捩途径。该研究对理解流体热毛细对流的机理具有重要的意义。在自然界里和工程技术中，多层流体体系对流现象更为普遍。近20年来，互不混溶的两层液体体系成为了很多理论和实验研究的重要对象，其主要原因有：(1)在两层流体体系中，由于上下层对流的耦合作用，在临界点上存在HOPF分叉，使得两层模型成为非线性理论研究的理想模型；(2)两层流体模型被应用于地壳运动的研究和空间晶体生长等领域。近年，很多学者通过理论分析和数值模拟对加载垂直温度梯度的上下两层流体B$\acute{\rm e}$nard-Marangoni对流问题进行了研究。上下液层对流的耦合与竞争可以导致上下液层出现多种对流耦合模式和振荡规律，外加温差、液层厚度以及液层厚度比的变化是形成不同对流模式的重要因素。本研究以FC70和KF90-10为实验介质，应用高分辨率PIV技术对两薄层流体B$\acute{\rm e}$nard-Marangoni对流进行了测量，从实验中清晰地观测到了3种临界对流模式：机械耦合、热耦合、临界振荡，分析给出了3种对流转换的临界参数，发现临界振荡可以在峰值液层厚度比附近一个较大的区域范围出现，并且峰值厚度比远离平衡厚度比，这些结果与目前的理论研究有明显的的差异。总之，两种不同外加温度梯度方式，会导致两种不同机制的对流--热毛细对流和Marangoni对流，他们是微重力流体物理研究的重要内容。

气泡/液滴运动的Level Set方法模拟研究

利用Level Set方法，结合投影法求解了描述气泡/液滴运动的Navier-Stokes方程。对地面常重力场中不同大小的空气泡在高黏度糖浆溶液中的自由上升运动现象，数值模拟结果与实验观测结果符合甚好，表明该方法能够计算大密度比和黏度比$(>1000:1)$情况下的气液两相流动。而对等密度液滴的热毛细迁移现象的数值模拟结果同样能够与实验结果相一致，表明该方法同样适于研究具有Marangoni效应的两相流动现象，特别是在空间微重力环境中的气液两相传热现象中的局部流动与传热问题。

微重力气液两相流动与传热

微重力条件下的气液两相流动与传热现象不仅在航天科技领域有重要的应用前景，而且由于抑制了重力和两相密度差所引起的浮力分层与相间滑移等因素的干扰，能够简化流动复杂性，突出流动中经由液气界面产生的相互作用，对揭示气液两相流动与传热现象内在控制机理极为有利，因此得到国际航天工程界和微重力流体力学界的高度重视，是目前相当活跃的研究前沿领域之一。中国科学院国家微重力实验室自20世纪90年代中期创建伊始，即将微重力气液两相流动与传热作为主要研究方向之一，先后完成了"和平号"空间站气液两相流实验、IL-76失重飞机气液两相流实验、第22颗返回式卫星和实践8号育种卫星搭载池内沸腾实验、NML落塔池内沸腾实验、NML落塔燃料电池内部气液两相流动及其电性能实验(与北京工业大学合作)等微重力实验研究项目，并通过地面对比实验及深入的数据分析和理论探索，得到如下结果：\newline (1)管内绝热气液两相流：首个长期、稳定微重力条件下圆管气液两相流型图和低重力条件下方管气液两相流型图，预测微重力气液两相弹状流－环状流转换的半理论Weber数模型，低重力条件下方管气液两相流摩擦压降数据及一个新的预测微重力气液两相泡状流压降的均相流模型等。\newline (2)池内沸腾：不同压力和过冷度条件下丝状表面和平板表面上的微重力池内沸腾传热曲线，临界热流(CHF)数据及其与重力相关的尺度关系，微重力池内沸腾现象中的气泡动力学行为及一个计入Marangoni效应的气泡脱落模型等。\newline (3)燃料电池微细通道气液两相流动：直接甲醇燃料电池(DMFC)内CO$_2$气泡生成与运动规律及其对燃料电池电性能的影响，H$_2$质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)内水滴的生成与两相流动的发展及其对燃料电池电性能的影响等。\newline 本文首先对上述成果予以详细评述，然后结合该领域国际发展现状与我国航天(尤其是载人航天)事业的发展需求，对我国微重力气液两相流动与传热研究近期的发展趋势予以探讨。