Numerical study of silica-water based nanofluid nucleate pool boiling by two-phase Eulerian scheme

In this research, numerical simulation of nucleate pool boiling of water and water–silica nanofluid was investigated using Eulerian multiphase approach. At first, nucleate pool boiling of pure water was simulated. Classic heat flux partitioning (HFP) model was used for the prediction of bubble parameters. To validate proposed approach, numerical results were compared with experimental data. In the next step, this scheme has been used for water-silica nanofluid. Due to dilute nanofluid (0.1% volume) concentration, it was assumed as a homogenous liquid and therefore, a two-phase approach was applied to simulate its boiling. Meanwhile, various correlations were compared to determine nucleation site density and bubble departure frequency and the best equation was found. Results demonstrated nanoparticle deposition on the heater surface was a key factor that could change the heat transfer performance in boiling nanofluid. Therefore, accurate investigation of bubble behavior in nucleate boiling of nanofluids is a necessary concern to be focused in future modeling studies.