Abstract

A three-dimensional bubble-tracking model was developed to simulate subcooled nucleate boiling in a heated vertical cylindrical tube. The behavior of the liquid-vapor system results from motion, interaction and heat transfer mechanisms prescribed mostly at the level of individually-tracked vapor bubbles. The model takes into account bubble nucleation and liquid heating caused by wall heat flux, bubble sliding on tube walls, bubble condensation in the low-temperature tube core region, bubble interaction through wake drift, bubble collisions and coalescence, bubble radial migration towards the tube core region, and turbulent dispersion in the liquid phase. The agreement between calculated void fraction and liquid temperature radial profiles along the flow with experimental results from other authors is promising.

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