Inner Phase Change Behavior of Small Liquid Droplet on Heated Solid Surface

An experimental investigation was conducted to visually observe the transient boiling in an individual water droplet on different heated solid surfaces, covering the free surface evaporation, nucleate, transition and spheroidal boiling regime. Diversified bubble dynamics, phase change and heat transfer behaviors for different boiling regimes of droplet were discussed in present work. In nucleate boiling regime, plenty nucleate bubbles with uniform diameters were confined within the bottom of the droplet, enhancing the heat transfer and cooling performance. The surface properties had great effects on the bubble dynamics in this regime. In the transition boiling regime, the phase change behaviors of a droplet displayed a cyclical process, restricted, sole-bubble and metastable cyclical styles were observed in the experiments. A vapor film between the droplet and surface exists in the spheroidal boiling regime, leading to the random movement of droplet above the heated surface and prolonging the lifetime of droplet significantly.