Numerical verification of a simplified model for vapor bubble lift-off from a hydrophilic heated flat-wall Original Research Article

Three-dimensional interface tracking simulations were carried out to investigate the role of surface tension force in the process of vapor bubble lift-off from a hydrophilic heated surface in nucleate boiling. Since bubbles are frequently flattened along the heated surface in photographic experiments reported in literature, a bubble was assumed to be spheroidal in shape in the initial condition. The effect of phase change at the bubble interface was not taken into consideration for the sake of simplicity. In the present numerical simulations, the initially spheroidal bubble approached the spherical shape due to the surface tension force and was eventually lifted off the surface. The change in bubble shape induced local liquid flow directing toward the bubble base, that was the direct cause of the occurrence of the bubble lift-off. The dependence of the bubble migration velocity on several important parameters including the bubble size, surface tension coefficient and the density of surrounding liquid was also investigated. The change in bubble shape from flattened to more rounded causes the reduction of the surface energy, while the formation of local liquid flow leads to an increase in the kinetic energy. It was demonstrated that the bubble migration velocity after the lift-off can successfully be interpreted from the standpoint of energy conservation during the lift-off process.