Evaporating bubble in a heated capillary: Effect of passage on the temperature field of the external wall

Abstract

The nonisothermal Taylor liquid-slug-vapor-bubble problem, occurring inside a capillary of circular cross-section, is investigated numerically. The underlying hydrodynamic and mass transfer phenomena are considered the major heat transfer means in pulsating heat pipes. The temperature signature at the outer side of the capillary, inside which the bubble travels, is particulary examined. It is shown that for typical flow conditions, i.e. for liquid flow velocity and applied heat flux about 0.1 m s-1 and 105 W m-2, respectively, wall thickness effects on capillary wall temperature are negligible in terms of diffusion and lag. In addition, the larger the liquid flow velocity, the more likely the bubble grows (due to evaporation) axially. This investigation opens new avenue to inverse methods where the bubble position is identified only through the temperature profile at the outer side of PHPs channels wall. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.