Saturated nucleate pool boiling of cryogenic fluids: Review of databases, assessment of existing models and correlations, and development of new universal correlation

The absence of a comprehensive and reliable nucleate pool boiling database for heat transfer coefficient (HTC) of cryogenic fluids is the driving force behind this study. Such a database is essential to evaluating the predictive accuracy of existing tools, including both models and correlations, and to pioneering the development of a new, more accurate predictive method. To address this need, a new Consolidated Cryogenic Nucleate Pool Boiling Database (comprised of 2908 data points) was compiled, with emphasis on HTC from flat horizontal and vertical surfaces, drawing from the broad literature resources available from across the globe. The database enabled a comprehensive assessment of prior models and correlations, and careful examination showed most of these tools yield unacceptably large errors in predicting the HTC data, especially for elevated pressures and large heat fluxes. Consequently, a new correlation is proposed for all cryogenic fluids combined, which is fine-tuned to outperform prior predictive tools, particularly for elevated pressures and large heat fluxes. The new correlation has a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 25.36 %, with 64.5 % of the predictions falling within +30 % of the data and 87.2 % within +50 %. This exceptional predictive capability positions the new correlation as a robust tool for both thermal design and performance assessment of a broad variety of devices and systems.