Droplet Impact onto Heated Wetted Surfaces: A Fundamental Study

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Influence of bubble growth and liquid film instabilities on droplet impact phenomena under saturated boiling regimes

Publication . Vasconcelos, Daniel; Silva, A. R. R.; Barata, Jorge M M

Evaporation and boiling are processes that occur in many industrial applications involving multiphase flows. For liquid films, however, studies are scarce regarding heat and mass transfer mechanisms and require further research. The main objective of this work is to evaluate bubble formation and detachment, followed by the impact phenomena. Therefore, an experimental setup was built and adapted for this purpose. A borosilicate glass impact surface is placed over a heat source, which consists of an aluminum block with four embedded cartridge heaters that heat the liquid film by conduction. Water and n-heptane are the fluids adopted for the experimental study, as the differences in thermophysical properties allow for a wider range of experiments. Study cases include dimensionless temperatures of θ > 0.6 for similar impact conditions. In terms of bubble formation, n-heptane displays smaller bubble diameters and higher release rates, whereas water exhibits larger bubbles and lower rates. Qualitatively, liquid film temperatures close to the saturation temperature do not reveal a direct influence on the crown development and posterior secondary atomization. For later stages of the impact, the central jet height and breakup are influenced by the film temperature, which is associated with the variation of thermophysical properties.

2023-12-31Journal article

Embargoed access

Influence of Vapour Bubbles Size and Spacing on Droplet Impact Outcomes under Subcooled Boiling Regimes

Publication . Vasconcelos, Daniel; Silva, A. R. R.; Barata, Jorge M M

Multiphase flows are characterised as heterogeneous mixtures of two or more phases, such as gas-liquid or solid-liquid. These are extremely complex due to the underlying dynamics that may occur, which include interfacial phenomena, such as boiling and evaporation, and interactions between phases. Specifically, droplet impact onto heated wetted surfaces has been overlooked in the literature, which involves heat and mass transfer mechanisms related to sensible heating, condensation and evaporation. The droplet impact phenomenon occurs in several industrial applications, such as internal combustion engines, electronics cooling devices, heat exchangers, among others. In numerical terms, improving efficiency and reliability of simulations is of interest to understand the behaviour of mathematical models for complex physical systems. The main objective of this work is to numerically simulate droplet impact onto a heated liquid film in the presence of vapour bubbles in a 2D-axisymmetric assumption. The numerical model solves the incompressible mass, momentum and energy equations coupled with the VOF method and height functions for accurately capturing the interface. Phase-change processes such as evaporation and condensation are neglected for the current simulations. Water and n-decane are the fluids adopted for the simulation. The impact conditions are D0 = 3.0 mm, h* = 0.5, and U0 = 3.0 m/s. Different vapour bubble sizes, (Dv), and spacings, (xv), are studied to evaluate the vapour bubble phenomena and crown geometrical parameters. An initial vapour bubble is positioned on the axis of symmetry, xs = 0, and, therefore, in the droplet trajectory. Results indicate that vapour bubbles have a lower influence on crown diameter, and a higher influence on crown height. Increasing the size of vapour bubbles leads to a decrease in both crown diameter and height, whereas an increase in the vapour bubbles spacing causes an increase in the crown height and diameter. The initial vapour bubble positioning in relation to the axis of symmetry is a factor that should also be considered in future studies.

2022-09-06Conference object

Open access

3D Simulations of Droplets Impacting Liquid Films: Crown Parameters Measurements

Publication . Vasconcelos, Daniel; Ribeiro, Daniela; Silva, R. D.; Barata, Jorge M M

The 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are coupled with the CLSVOF method and employed to numerically simulate the phenomena of single droplet impact onto liquid films. A solution-adaptive mesh refinement tool, based on the gradient of the volume fraction scalar, is adopted in order to reduce computational cost. Three different fluids are taken into account: 100% jet fuel and 75%/25% and 50%/50% of jet fuel and biofuel, respectively. Quantitative analysis of the crown height and outer diameter is performed for different impact conditions, such as the influence of the impact velocity and dimensionless thickness, between experimental and numerical results, and the qualitative analysis includes the occurrence of splashing and overall crown evolution. Numerical results show that the crown outer diameter measurements are in good agreement with the experimental cases, presenting a slight discrepancy for the lower liquid film thickness of h*= 0.2. The crown height measurements are under-predicted for the current model, maintaining a similar trend for dimensionless thicknesses of h*= 0.5 and h*= 1 while, for the lower thickness, the crown disintegrates at earlier stages. The crown curvature and rim instabilities exhibit significant differences, and the splashing phenomenon occurs for both the experimental and numerical outcomes.

2020-01-05Conference object

Restricted access

Influence of Dimensionless Temperature on Droplet Impact onto Heated Liquid Films for Subcooled Boiling Regimes

Publication . Vasconcelos, Daniel; Silva, A. R. R.; Barata, Jorge M M

Heat and mass transfer mechanisms related to multiphase flows occur in several applications such as spray cooling, quenching, internal combustion engines and plasma spraying. These mechanisms have become increasingly important due to the need of achieving higher heat rate coefficients associated with phase-change processes, such as evaporation and condensation. Specifically, the phenomenon of droplet impact onto non-heated liquid films has been extensively researched, both experimentally and numerically. However, the influence of temperature on droplet impact and liquid film stability has been overlooked in the literature, which is a focal point in understanding interfacial phenomena. The main objective of this work is to experimentally study droplet impact onto heated liquid films. Therefore, an experimental facility was designed for this purpose. A borosilicate glass surface is used to contain the liquid film. This surface is placed above an aluminium block with four embedded cartridge heaters of 250W each, heating the liquid film by conduction. Immersion type-k thermocouples are employed for liquid film temperature measurements. Liquid film evaporation rates are calculated in order to ensure the liquid film thickness prior to the droplet impact. Water and n-decane are the fluids adopted due to their differences in thermophysical properties and saturation temperature. The impact conditions are 100 < W e < 300, 0.5 < h* < 1.5, and a dimensionless temperature of θ < 0.6. Qualitative analysis is performed regarding crater and central jet evolution, and quantitative data regarding evaporation rate and central jet height are measured. The dimensionless temperature affects the droplet impact phenomena, creating recirculation zones near the crater and the impact surface, and affecting the crater formation. The central jet height increases with increasing values of θ for h* = 1.0 and h* = 1.5, whereas for h* = 0.5, the measurements do not follow a similar tendency. The emerging time of the central jet is delayed for higher values of θ, meaning that future studies regarding crater evolution should be considered. The dimensionless temperature also promotes central jet breakup, as well increasing the number of secondary droplets originated from the breakup.

2022-09-06Conference object

Open access

Does liquid film temperature affects single drop impact dynamics?

Publication . Mendes, André F. S. F.; Vasconcelos, Daniel; Ribeiro, Daniela; Panão, Miguel; Silva, A. R. R.

The effect of liquid film dynamics in the hydrodynamics of an isolated drop impact is a complex phenomenon and not fully understood. Therefore, in this work, an experimental setup built to characterize the impact of an isolated droplet on heated and unheated liquid films consists of a heating element made of an aluminum block with resistances to produce several impact conditions. The parametric studies include the drop impact velocity and size for different fluids to evaluate their properties effect on the phenomena. The results were compared with existing thresholds in the literature to evaluate their validity and applicability range. This comparison allows us to assess if temperature causes the limits of the thresholds to change drastically or if its influence is negligible. Regarding IC engines, thresholds like splashing and bubble encapsulation are significant since they influence the atomization of the mixture and, consequently, the pollutant emissions.

2023-03-26Conference object

Embargoed access