Numerical simulation of film boiling near critical pressures with a level set method

Attempts have recently been made to numerically simulate film boiling on a horizontal surface. It has been observed from experiments and numerical simulations that during film boiling the bubbles are released alternatively at the nodes and antinodes of a Taylor wave. Near the critical state, however, hydrodynamic transition in bubble release pattern has been reported in the literature. The purpose of this work is to understand the mechanism of the transition in bubble release pattern through complete numerical simulation of the evolution of the vapor-liquid interface. The interface is captured by a level set method which is modified to include the liquid-vapor phase change effect. It is found from the numerical simulation that at low wall superheats the interface moves upwards, bubbles break off and the interface drops down alternatively at the nodes and antinodes. However, with an increase in wall superheat, stable vapor jets are formed on both the nodes and antinodes and bubbles are released from the top of the vapor columns. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data, and visual observations reported in the literature are found to be in good agreement with the data.