Numerical investigation of critical heat flux in subcooled flow boiling of nanofluids

Nanofluid flow boiling and critical heat flux (CHF) are interesting topics for many researchers and have industrial application for preventing potential damages. On this basis, numerous experimental studies have been performed on the determination of CHF; however, due to the weakness of the existing correlations for this purpose, an accurate numerical study on CHF is yet needed to be reported. In the present study, the subcooled flow boiling of nanofluid has been simulated to predict CHF. For estimating the nucleation site density (NSD), a correlation is used, into which the liquid properties, flow characteristics and surface properties contribute. The studies were performed at different concentrations of alumina nanoparticles. The simulation results indicated error percentages below 10% in CHF estimation, confirming the reliability of the results. No significant difference was observed between the CHF values calculated in the simulation studies considering constant thermal properties for the nanoparticles, as compared to those obtained with variable thermal properties for the nanoparticles. Taking the tube in a horizontal position, rather than the vertical position, increased the CHF value. However, the increase in CHF was negligible.