• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1271-1287
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• 2004

In this article, vapor bubble nucleation in liquid and the evaporation process of a liquid droplet at its superheat limit were discussed from the viewpoint of molecular clustering (molecular cluster model for bubble nucleation). For the vapor bubble formation, the energy barrier against bubble nucleation was estimated by the molecular interaction due to the London dispersion force. Bubble nucleation by quantum tunneling in liquid helium under negative pressure near the absolute zero temperature and bubble nucleation on cavity free micro heaters were also presented as the homogenous nucleation processes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.849-853
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• 2018

Mechanistic calculations for wet scrubbing of aerosol/vapor from gas bubble rising in liquid pool are essential to safety of sodium-cooled fast reactor. Hence, scrubbing of volatile fission product from mixed gas bubble rising in sodium pool is presented in this study. To understand this phenomenon, a theoretical model has been setup based on classical theories of aerosol/vapor removal from bubble rising through liquid pools. The model simulates pool scrubbing of sodium iodide aerosol and cesium vapor from a rising mixed gas bubble containing xenon as the inert species. The scrubbing of aerosol and vapor are modeled based on deposition mechanisms and Fick's law of diffusion, respectively. Studies were performed to determine the effect of various key parameters on wet scrubbing. It is observed that for higher vapor diffusion coefficient in gas bubble, the scrubbing efficiency is higher. For aerosols, the cut-off size above which the scrubbing efficiency becomes significant was also determined. The study evaluates the retention capability of liquid sodium used in sodium-cooled fast reactor for its safe operation.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1282-1287
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• 2004

The bubble behavior and the radiation mechanism from a laser-induced collapsing bubble were investigated theoretically using the Keller-Miksis equation for the bubble wall motion and analytical solutions for the vapor inside bubble. The calculated time dependent bubble radius is in good agreement with observed ones. The half-width of the luminescence pulse at the collapse point, which was calculated under assumption that the light emission mechanism is black body radiation from the vapor bubble agreed well with observed value of several nanoseconds. The gas content inside the vapor bubble was too small to produce the light emission due to bremsstrahlung.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.397-400
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• 2002

Vapor explosion is one of the most important problems encountered in severe accident management of nuclear power plants. In spite of many efforts, a lot of questions still remain. So, KAERI launched a real experimental program called TROI using $UO_{2}$ and $ZrO_{2}$ to investigate the vapor explosion. Besides TROI tests, a small-scale experiment with molten-tin/water system was performed to quantify the characteristics of vapor explosion and to understand the phenomenology of vapor explosion. A vapor explosion was observed while the amount of air bubble and water temperature were systematically varied The mass and temperature of tin are $50\;g\;and\;150^{\circ}C$, respectively. Water temperature is set to $24^{\circ}C\;and\;50^{\circ}C$. The void fraction of air bubble ranges from $0\;to\;10\;{\%}$. The strength of vapor explosion was measured using dynamic pressure sensors attached in reactor tube wall. as a function of void fraction. In addition, a high speed video filming up to 1,000 flame/sec was taken in order to visually investigate the behavior of the vapor explosion .

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.287-292
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• 2004

An experimental investigation was carried out to study the performance of a bubble pump for the diffusion absorption refrigerating system. Ammonia was used as the refrigerant and the helium was charged in order to balance the pressure between the low and high pressure side. As experimental variables, the concentration of ammonia charged into system, heat input, and the pressure of helium were selected. Experimental results show that the generation rate of ammonia vapor and the circulation rate of diluted ammonia solution were increased as the heat input increases, but the ratio of the solution to vapor flow rate was decreased. The generation rate of refrigerant vapor and the circulation rate of diluted ammonia solution increased as the system pressure decreased. Finally under the condition of 25 bars, the concentration of rich ammonia solution was not affected by the generation rate of ammonia vapor and the circulation of diluted ammonia solution.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.8 s.227
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• pp.996-1003
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• 2004

The bubble motion during nucleate boiling in a microchannel is investigated by numerically solving the equations governing conservation of mass, momentum and energy in the liquid and vapor phases. The liquid-vapor interface is tracked by a level set method which is modified to include the effects of phase change at the interface and contact angle at the wall. Also, the evaporative heat flux from the thin liquid film that forms underneath a growing bubble attached to the wall is incorporated in the analysis. Based on the numerical results, the effects of channel size, contact angle, wall superheat and waiting period on the bubble growth and heat transfer in a microchannel are quantified.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.247-253
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• 1999

The growth of a spherical vapor bubble contained in a large body of upper convected Maxwell fluid is theoretically analyzed under the devolatilization condition of polymer by using a Galerkin FEM in the Lagrangian frame. Using the finite element technique, a fully explicit numerical scheme is developed both for the calculation of pressure distribution and for the tracking of bubble surface. Oscillatory behavior in bubble radius is observed during growth and the oscillatory behavior is found to be due to the interaction of mass transfer resistance and elasticity. It is found that the elasticity of fluid accelerates the growth and removal of volatile component. It is also found that the bubble growth in the devolatilization of polymers is affected by both mass transfer resistance and viscoelasticity of fluids.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.216-227
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• 2004

A new cavitating model by using bubble size distribution based on bubbles-mass has been proposed. Both liquid and vapor phases are treated with Eulerian framework as a mixture containing minute cavitating bubbles. In addition vapor phase consists of various sizes of vapor bubbles, which are distributed to classes based on their mass. The bubble number-density for each class was solved by considering the change of the bubble-mass due to phase change as well as generation of new bubbles due to heterogeneous nucleation. In this method, the bubble-mass is treated as an independent variable, and the other dependent variables are solved in spatial coordinates and bubble-mass coordinate. Firstly, we employed this method to calculate bubble nucleation and growth in stationary super-heated liquid nitrogen, and bubble collapse in stationary sub-cooled one. In the case of bubble growth in super-heated liquid, bubble number-density of the smallest class based on its mass is increased due to the nucleation. These new bubbles grow with time, and the bubbles shift to larger class. Therefore void fraction of each class is increased due to the growth in the whole class. On the other hand, in the case of bubble collapse in sub-cooled liquid, the existing bubbles are contracted, and then they shift to smaller class. It finally becomes extinct at the smallest one. Secondly, the present method is applied to a cavitating flow around NACA00l5 foil. Liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen are employed as working fluids. Cavitation number, $\sigma$, is fixed at 0.15, inlet velocities are changed at 5, 10, 20 and 50m/s. Inlet temperatures are 90K in case of liquid nitrogen, and 90K and 1l0K in case of liquid oxygen. 110K of oxygen is corresponding to the 90K of nitrogen because of the same relative temperature to the critical one, $T_{r}$=$T/T_c^{+}$. Cavitating flow around the NACA0015 foils was properly analyzed by using bubble size distribution. Finally, the method is applied to a cavitating flow in an inducer of the LE-7A hydrogen turbo-pump. This inducer has 3 spiral foils. However, for simplicity, 2D calculation was carried out in an unrolled channel at 0.9R cross-section. The channel moves against the fluid at a peripheral velocity corresponding to the inducer revolutions. Total inlet pressure, $Pt_{in}$, is set at l00KPa, because cavitation is not generated at a design point, $Pt_{in}$=260KPa. The bubbles occur upstream of the foils and collapse between them. Cavitating flow in the inducer was successfully predicted by using the bubble size distribution.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2008

The bubble dynamics and heat transfer associated with nucleate boiling in parallel microchannels is studied numerically by solving the equations governing conservation of mass, momentum and energy in the liquid and vapor phases. The liquid-vapor interface is tracked by a level set method which is modified to include the effects of phase change at the interface and contact angle at the wall. Also, the reversible flow observed during flow boiling in parallel microchannels has been investigated. Based on the numerical results, the effects of contact angle, wall superheat and the number of channels on the bubble growth and reversible flow are quantified.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1891-1896
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• 2003

The bubble motion during nucleate boiling in a microchannel is investigated numerically. The liquid-vapor interface is tracked by a level set method which is modified to include the effects of phase change at the interface and contact angle at the wall. The computations are made for various channel sizes, liquid flow rates, and contact angles. Based on the numerical results, the bubble growth pattern and its effect on the flow and heat transfer are discussed.