Microlayer formation characteristics in pool isolated bubble boiling of water

Investigation of microlayer formation characteristics is important for developing a reliable nucleate boiling heat transfer model based on accurate physical mechanisms. Although formation mechanisms of the thin liquid film in two-phase flow of confined spaces, such as micro-tubes and closely positioned parallel plates, have been thoroughly studied, microlayer formation mechanisms of pool boiling have been sparsely studied. In a previous study (Yabuki and Nakabeppu in Int J Heat Mass Transf 76:286–297, 2014; Int J Heat Mass Transf 100:851–860, 2016), the spatial distribution of initial microlayer thickness under pool boiling bubbles was calculated by transient heat conduction analysis using the local wall temperature measured with a MEMS sensor. In this study, the hydrodynamic characteristics of microlayer formation in pool boiling were investigated using the relationship between derived initial microlayer thickness and microlayer formation velocity determined by transient local heat flux data. The trend of microlayer thickness was found to change depending on the thickness of the velocity boundary layer outside the bubble foot. When the boundary layer thickness was thin, the initial microlayer thickness was determined by the boundary layer thickness, and the initial microlayer thickness proportionally increased with increasing boundary layer thickness. On the other hand, when the boundary layer was thick, the initial microlayer thickness decreased with increasing boundary layer thickness. In this thick boundary layer region, the momentum balance in the dynamic meniscus region became important, in addition to the boundary layer thickness, and the microlayer thickness, made dimensionless using boundary layer thickness, correlated with the Bond number.