Water Flow Boiling in Micro/Mini Channels Using Volume of Fluid Model

Recent advancements in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have triggered research in the field of heat exchangers. Driven by the need to decrease the size of heat exchangers, many researchers have exploited the higher heat transfer achieved by replacing single-phase flow systems with boiling counterparts. The concept of using mini-channels to provide compact heat exchangers while maintaining heat transfer performance is relatively new. A minimal number of researchers have reported simulations of water-steam systems in mini-channels. This paper presents a numerical study of the heat transfer performance (HTP) of mini channels in a water-steam system using the volume of fluid (VOF) model coupled with the Lee phase change model on commercial CFD software ANSYS. The numerical model consisted of a 1 mm × 1.5 mm × 52 mm channel with boundary conditions: top adiabatic; constant heat flux at the bottom surface; left/right periodic; mass flow inlet and pressure outlet. A mesh independence study was carried out for the proposed model, and simulations were validated against the experimental results of heat transfer versus vapor quality for a wide range of mass and heat fluxes. The VOF model best predicts experimental HTC at high mass fluxes, although the results at low mass fluxes were predicted with reasonable accuracy. Based on the agreement of numerical and numerical results, the VOF model turned out to be a promising candidate for designing compact micro/mini channel heat exchangers.