Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences — Forced Convection Boiling Phenomena in Microchannel Flows.

The objective of this research is to better understand boiling in microchannels. To this end, an experimental facility was designed and fabricated to provide a unique capability to measure several key aspects of microchannel single-phase and two-phase flow. Single-phase, two-phase and convective boiling phenomena have been studied using qualitative and quantitative flow visualization methods. These methods include fluorescent dye studies and particle image velocimetry. In addition, details of flow pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics were determined to better assess flow transition to turbulence, flow development and their impact on the local heat transfer rate distributions.