November 27, 2019 11:27 0218-348X 1950111

Fractals, Vol. 27, No. 7 (2019) 1950111 (13 pages)


c World Scientific Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0218348X19501111
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NUMERICAL STUDY ON FLOW BOILING

IN A TREE-SHAPED MICROCHANNEL
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WEI YU,∗,† LUYAO XU,∗ SHUNJIA CHEN† and FENG YAO‡,§

∗School of Electrical, Energy and Power Engineering

Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, P. R. China

†Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion

and Control of Ministry of Education

School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University
Nanjing 210096, P. R. China
‡Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Micro and

Nano Heat Fluid Flow Technology and Energy Application

School of Environmental Science and Engineering
Suzhou University of Science and Technology
Suzhou 215009, P. R. China
§yaofeng@usts.edu.cn

Received February 28, 2019

Accepted June 21, 2019
Published November 7, 2019

Abstract
A two-dimensional model is developed to numerically study the water flow boiling through a
tree-shaped microchannel by VOF method. In this work, the bubble dynamics and flow patterns
along the channel are examined. Additionally, the pressure drop, heat transfer performance and
the effects of mass flow rate and heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient are analyzed and dis-
cussed. The numerical results indicate that, there are three main bubble dynamic behaviors at
the wall, namely coalesce-lift-off, coalesce-slide and coalesce-reattachment. At the bifurcation
in high branching level, the slug bubbles may coalesce or breakup. The flow patterns of bubbly,
bubbly-slug flows occur at low branching level and slug flow occurs at high branching level.
The passage of bubbles causes the increasing of fluid temperature and local pressure. Addi-
tionally, the pressure drop decreases with the branching level. The flow pattern and channel
confinement effect play a vital role in heat transfer performance. The nucleate boiling dominant

§
Corresponding author.

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 November 27, 2019 11:27 0218-348X 1950111

W. Yu et al.

heat transfer is observed at low branching level, the heat transfer performance is enhanced with
increasing branching level from k = 0 to 2. While, at high branching level, the heat transfer
performance becomes weaker due to the suppression of nucleate boiling. Moreover, the heat
transfer coefficient increases with the mass flow rate and heat flux.

Keywords: Tree-Shaped; Microchannel; Flow Boiling; VOF Method; Numerical Simulation.

1. INTRODUCTION flows and elongated bubbles. The flow pattern evo-

Various appliances in biomedical, chemical and elec- lution induces enhanced heat transfer in the down-
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tronic technology develop towards the miniaturiza-
tion,1 imposing a critical challenge to the heat dissi-
pation. As an efficient heat transfer mode of vapor–
liquid phase change, the flow boiling in microchan-
nel heat sinks could meet the requirements of
removing great heat in these miniaturized devices.
Particularly, owing to the optimized heat and mass
transfer capability, the tree-shaped microchannel
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
stream and upstream regions. Wang et al.16 found
flow regimes of stable and unstable modes, which
are divided by the vapor quality of 0.013. The flow
regimes of single-phase liquid, bubbly and elongated
bubbly/slug occur in the stable mode, while the
unstable modes contain the flow regimes of bub-
bly, elongated bubbly/slug, semi-annular and annu-
lar/mist. Additionally, the flow regimes can influ-

provides a promising solution in enhancing the heat
transfer performance in both single-phase and two
phase flows,2,3 which is applied for a number of
microscale applications, including electronic cool-
ing,3,4 mass exchangers,5 chemical reactors,6 and
fuel cells.7,8 To this context, it is of great signifi-
cance to give a fundamental understanding in flow
pattern and heat transfer during the flow boiling
process in tree-shaped microchannel networks.
It has been known that bubble dynamics has a
major impact on flow pattern evolution and heat
transfer.9 Numerous experiments have been con-
ducted to investigate bubble dynamics of flow boil-
ing in microchannel heat sinks. For examples, Yeoh
et al.10 found that the shear lift force overcomes the
predominant forces of surface tension and growth
when bubble lifting off. Situ et al.11 also stated that
the growth and shear lift forces govern the bub-
ble at the instant of the lift-off. Ahmadi et al.12
observed that most bubbles lifted in a short time
after nucleation under the atmospheric pressure,
which is caused by the unsteady growth force, the
bubble shape and the condensation at the side wall.
In contrast, bubbles usually slide along the sur-
face under the elevated pressures. Lee et al.13 found
that the size of bubble departure from the wall is
controlled by the surface tension and drag of fluid
flow. Fu et al.9 stated that the growth and coa-
lescence of bubbles were two major factors influ-
encing flow pattern evolution. Kandlikar et al.14
stated that the elongated bubbles can deteriorate
the heat transfer. Chen et al.15 also studied the
significance of flow pattern in the heat transfer.
They observed the flow patterns of bubbly, slug
ence the wall temperature and pressure drop.
Due to the limitations in capturing vapor-
liquid interface during the flow boiling process
in microchannel as well as the distribution of
temperature and pressure along the channel by
experimental studies, a number of direct numeri-
cal simulations with various methods, like volume-
of-fluid,17–27 Level set28,29 and Lattice–Boltzmann
(LBM)30,31 have been implemented to investigate
the bubble dynamics. Kuang et al.26 used VOF
method to simulate the boiling flow behavior in
the heat pipe. The flow patterns of bubbly and
slug flows were observed. The bubble growth and
coalescence induce the slug flow. Zhuan et al.18–21
conducted simulations to investigate the flow boil-
ing in microchannel by VOF method. The results
also show that the growth and coalescence of bub-
bles can significantly affect flow pattern evolution
(bubbly/slug to slug, slug to slug/semi-annular).
Additionally, for nucleate boiling, the bubbles are
first fastened by surface tension, and then the rapid
growth and departure from the wall of bubble
occurs when the wall superheat is higher than the
transition point. Dong et al.30 investigated the influ-
encing factors of bubble on the fluid flow and heat
transfer in the microchannel by LBM method. It
is found that the bubble growth at the wall gen-
erates flow resistance. The bubble nucleation and
motion alternately enhance or weaken the influence
of bubble dynamics on the flow boiling. In addi-
tion, by using a fractal model, Yu and co-workers
presented a series of analytical studies for nucleate
pool boiling,32 subcooled flow boiling heat trans-
fer,33 high heat flux nucleate boiling region34 and

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Numerical Study on Flow Boiling in a Tree-Shaped Microchannel
critical heat flux (CHF)34 based on the fractal dis-
tribution of nucleation sites on boiling surfaces. The
proposed model contains less empirical constants
than the conventional models. The model predic-
tions are shown to be in excellent agreement with
experimental data, which verifies the validity of the
fractal model.
As an attractive way for electronic cooling, the
disadvantages of flow boiling in single, straight
microchannel heat sinks are large pressure drops
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and flow instabilities. Owing to the inspiration
of biological transport systems, which show the
optimal solutions for information handling and
fluid transport problems,1 a constructal tree-shaped
microchannel networks was developed as high-
performance heat sinks. Bejan3 first proposed a con-
structal tree-shaped network based on the construc-
tal theory for electronic cooling. Later, Bejan and
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
Errera35 introduced a deterministic tree network
for fluid flow with minimal volume-to-point flow
resistance. Bejan36 found that the total heat cur-
rent convected by the double tree is proportional
to the total volume raised to power 3/4. However,
these constructal tree-shaped channel networks are
non-fractal. Inspired by the fractal pattern of mam-
malian circulatory and respiratory systems, Pence37
and Chen et al.38–40 introduced fractal-shaped
microchannel networks for the convective cooling of
microelectronic devices with circular and rectangu-
lar geometric shapes. After assuming a laminar and
fully developed flow and neglecting effect of bifur-
cation on pressure drop, they analytically observed
that under the condition of the same convective
heat transfer area, the fractal-shaped microchan-
nel network has much higher heat transfer rate
and smaller pressure drop than parallel microchan-
nels. Senn and Poulikakos7 numerically investigated
the laminar convective heat transfer and pressure
drop characteristics in fractal tree-like microchannel
network for thermal management in polymer elec-
trolyte fuel cell and compared to the corresponding
characteristics in traditional serpentine flow pat-
terns. The results indicated that the fractal-shaped
microchannel network provides a smaller pressure
drop, a higher heat transfer rate, and a more uni-
form temperature distribution than the serpentine
channel. Zhang et al.2 numerically analyzed the
flow boiling in constructal tree-shaped minichan-
nel network based on one-dimensional model. They
found that the tree-shaped network configured with
length dimension of two is able to maximum flow
access and the path length plays a significant role
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in the determination of flow boiling in tree-shaped
minichannel networks. In particular, compared to
the traditional serpentine channel, flow boiling in
constructal tree-shaped minichannel networks pos-
sesses less pressure drop, lower pumping power
requirement, better temperature uniformity and
higher coefficient of performance. Similarly, Salakij
et al.41 developed a one-dimensional model to sim-
ulate convective boiling flow through a fractal-like
branching microchannel network. The results show
that as the vapor extraction rate increases, there
is a significant reduction in pressure drop through
the channel, bulk fluid temperature and exit vapor
quality.
In view of the above studies, the detailed work
on the flow boiling in a tree-shaped microchannel
is still inadequate, particularly the bubble dynam-
ical behaviors are still waiting to be elucidated.
Therefore, in our study, a 2D fractal tree-shaped
microchannel network is constructed and VOF
method was used to numerically investigate the sub-
cooled flow boiling in this structure. The bubble
dynamic behaviors and the flow patterns are investi-
gated. Additionally, the pressure drop, heat transfer
performance of each branching level and the effects
of mass flow rate and heat flux on the heat transfer
coefficient are explored.
2. MATHEMATICAL MODEL
A two-dimensional model is developed in this paper.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, the tree-shaped microchan-
nel can be established as follows.
6 7 10 11
2 3 6 7 4
3
5 8 9 12
Lk+1
2
2 3
Lk
1 2
1
W k+1
Wk
1 4
2 3 14 15
1 4 1 5 8
0
1 4 13 16
y
outlet
o x
inlet
Fig. 1 Schematic of the tree-shaped microchannel.
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W. Yu et al.

Table 1 Geometric Parameters for Constructal as

Mirochannel. S
∂αl + ∇ · (U αl ) = − , (6)
k 0 1 2 3 4 ρl
lk (mm) 4 2.828 2 1.414 1 S
∂αv + ∇ · (U αv ) = , (7)
dk (mm) 0.2 0.159 0.126 0.1 0.08 ρv
D 2
where source term S indicates the volumetric mass
transfer rates through the interface due to phase
Based on the fractal theory, each channel has two change.
The momentum equation is defined as
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branches in the next level with bifurcation angle

of 180◦ , i.e. n = 2, and this device has 4 levels
(k = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4). The ratio of channel length (lk+1 )
at (k + 1)th level to the channel length (lk ) at kth
level is
lk+1 = lk n−1/D . (1)
Thus,
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
∂(ρU )
+ ∇ · (ρU U ) = −∇p + ∇ · μ(∇U + ∇U T )
∂t
+ ρg + Fσ , (8)
where ρ is the density (kg/m3 ), U is the veloc-
ity vector (m/s), t is the time (s), p is the static
pressure (Pa), μ is the dynamic viscosity (Pa · s), g
is the gravitational acceleration vector (m/s2 ) and

lk = l0 n−k/D , (2) Fσ is the volumetric surface tension force (N/m3 ).

Since the characteristic length of the microchannel
where D is the length dimension and l0 is the chan- is in the order of micrometers and Bond number
nel length at k = 0. with the magnitude of 10−2 is much less than unit,
The ratio of the channel diameter before bifur- the gravity can be considered negligible.
cation to the channel diameter after bifurcation The energy equation
is
∂(ρE)
−1/Δ + ∇ · [U (ρE + p)] = ∇ · (λ∇T ) + rS, (9)
dk+1 = dk n , (3) ∂t
where
where Δ is the diameter dimension. We adopted
αv ρv Ev + αl ρl El
Δ = 3, which is optimal diameter dimension.42 E= . (10)
It follows that αv ρv + αl ρl
El and Ev are sensible enthalpy of the vapor and
dk = d0 n−k/Δ , (4) liquid phases (J/kg). The source term rS in Eq. (9)
indicates the heat transfer rate due to phase change
where d0 is the channel diameter at k = 0. Table 1
(W/m2 ), r is the latent heat (J/kg).
presents the geometry parameters of tree-shaped
The density, viscosity and thermal conductivity
microchannel adopted in this study.
are all volume-fraction-averaged
ρ = αv ρv + αl ρl , (11)
2.1. Governing Equations
μ = αv μv + αl μl , (12)
Two incompressible and immiscible fluids can be
stimulated by using the VOF method. In this λ = αv λv + αl λl . (13)
method, the volume fraction α represents the por-
The source term Fσ in Eq. (8) is the surface ten-
tion of one phase in a cell. The cell is full of vapor
sion, which can be expressed by the continuum sur-
phase when αv = 1, it is full of liquid phase when
face force model43
αv = 0, and the cell contains the phase interface
when 0 < αv < 1. The sum of the volume fractions αl ρl κv ∇αv + αv ρv κl ∇αl
Fσ = 2σ , (14)
of two phases is 1, ρl + ρv
where σ denotes constant surface tension coefficient
αl + αv = 1. (5) (N/m), κl and κv are the curvature of the vapor-
The continuity equations for liquid and vapor liquid interface, which can be calculated as
phases are solved to track the interface between Δαl Δαv
κl = , κv = . (15)
two phases, and the equations are expressed |∇αl | |∇αv |
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Numerical Study on Flow Boiling in a Tree-Shaped Microchannel
The source term S in Eqs. (6) and (7) considering
the mass transfer during the processes of evaporat-
ing and condensing is determined by Lee’s model44

cl αl ρl (Tl − Tsat )/Tsat , Tl ≥ Tsat ,
S= (16)
cv αv ρv (Tl − Tsat )/Tsat , Tl < Tsat ,
where cl and cv are the relaxation time coefficients
(s−1 ). In this study, they are set to be 1.
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2.2. Boundary Conditions
A uniform heat flux of q = 20 W/cm2 is applied on
the outer wall. The constant flow rate of water is
imposed at the inlet, and the outlet pressure is set
as 1 atm = 1.013 × 105 Pa. The inner wall is set as
the no-slip boundary condition. The subcooling at
the inlet is set to be 3 K. Prior to the transient sim-
ulation, a preliminary steady state of single-phase
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
simulation was conducted to provide the initial
conditions.
When the interface of two phases contacts the
inner wall, the wall adhesion effect should be con-
sidered. The surface normal of these cells at the
wall is determined by the contact angle between the
interface and the wall, θw , by
n̂ = t̂w sin θw + n̂w cos θw , (17)
where t̂w is the unit tangential to the inner wall,
while n̂w is the unit normal to the inner wall. In
all cases, we assume that the contact angle of the
vapor phase on the inner wall surrounded by the
liquid phase is θw = 150◦ .
2.3. Numerical Methods
Because the Reynolds numbers in all cases are
below 200, the laminar model is adopted to sim-
ulate the two-phase fluid flow. The control vol-
ume finite-difference technique is used to solve the
governing equations with the boundary conditions.
The pressure-velocity coupling is determined by
pressure-implicit with splitting of operators algo-
rithm. The momentum and energy equations are
discretized by the second-order upwind scheme.
Additionally, the pressure staggering option scheme
is chosen for the pressure interpolation. A variable
time step scheme and proper under-relaxation fac-
tors are implemented to obtain good convergence in
simulation. In addition, the relative residuals of the
variables for velocity, pressure and energy in each
control volume are ensured to be less than 0.1%
for each time step. Considering the results of grid-
independent test and the computing capability, the
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total cell numbers in the computational domain is
437980.
2.4. Case Validation
To verify the present numerical model, we conduct
numerical simulation corresponding to two typical
experimental cases in Ref. 17, and compared the
numerical results with experimental data. Accord-
ing to the experiment, a coiled tube made of quartz
glass with six straight tubes and five bend sec-
tions is used in the case validation. The diameter of
circular cross-section is 6 mm. In addition, R141B
is adopted as the working fluid. The flow boiling
process through this coiled tube under two opera-
tion conditions: (a) flow rate of 10 L/h, heat flux of
6888 W/m2 and subcooled of 8.5 K; (b) flow rate of
15 L/h, heat flux of 6888 W/m2 and subcooled of
15.5 K, are chosen as two typical cases for the val-
idation. As shown in Fig. 2, there is a good agree-
ment between the numerical results and experimen-
tal data, which verifies that the current model is
reliable for predicting the dynamic behaviors of flow
boiling in a tree-shaped microchannel.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Bubble Dynamic Behaviors
In this paper, three stages of bubble dynamics can
be identified. First, the tiny bubble is generated and
attached to its nucleate site. Subsequently, the bub-
ble keeps growing with further evaporation. Once
the bubble size reaches a certain extent, the drag
force of fluid overcomes the surface tension and the
bubble starts to slide on the wall. Also, it may merge
with the neighboring bubble to form a large bubble.
Second, with the bubble size increasing, shear lift
force is large enough to make bubble depart from
the wall. Third, the bubble is accelerated under the
large inertial force.
For the bubble dynamic behavior of coalesce-lift-
off, as shown in Fig. 3a, the bubble slides along
the flow direction, and coalesces with another one.
There is a liquid film sandwiched between the two
neighboring bubbles before the contacting, and it
ruptures by the capillary instability when the liq-
uid film is sufficiently thin. The liquid microlayer
between the stems vaporizes until the stems depart
from the wall. Once the shear lift force is large
enough, the merged bubble departs from the wall
and reshapes to spherical shape by the surface ten-
sion. Thus, the velocity inside the bubble is larger
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W. Yu et al.
(a)
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(b)
Fig. 2 Comparison of flow boiling between numerical simulation (right) and experiment (left) in a horizontal coiled tube:
(a) comparison of vapor profile under the flow rate of 10 L/h, heat flux of 6888W/m2 and subcooled of 8.5 K, (b) comparison
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
of vapor profile under the flow rate of 15 L/h, heat flux of 6888 W/m2 and subcooled of 10.5 K (red-vapor, blue-liquid).
than the velocity of main stream and a local vortex
flow forms around the interface (see t = 11.8 ms).
For the bubble dynamic behavior of coalesce-
slide, as shown in Fig. 3b, the velocity deviations
can lead to the coalescence between two sliding bub-
bles. After the bubble coalescence, the shear lift
force is not sufficiently large to balance the surface
tension, the merged bubble remains attached to the
wall and keeps sliding. Due to the surface tension,
a local vortex flow forms at t = 15.25 ms. For the
bubble dynamic behavior of coalesce-reattachment,
as shown in Fig. 3c, the merged bubble lifts-off from
the wall. However, its motion distance is very small,
after a short time, the bubble is blow back onto the
wall by the local flow field.
Figure 3d shows the processes of bubble coa-
lescence and breakup at the bifurcation in high
branching level. The bubble breakup process can be
described as follows: under the upstream pressure,
a parabolic-like neck is formed at the bifurcation
and gets thinner with time. After a certain exten-
sion, the bubble is broken into two different ones.
The sharp rears of daughter bubbles are distorted
heavily due to the inertia. After a while, the tail of
daughter bubbles shrinks due to the surface tension.
In the breakup process, the velocity inside the bub-
ble is apparently larger than the velocity surround-
ing the bubble, which is induced by the inertia force
and surface tension acting on the bubbles.
Generally, three typical flow patterns are
achieved along the flow direction: bubbly, bubbly-
slug and slug flows. Figure 4 shows the snapshot
1950111-6
of the flow boiling. The subcooled water is heated
at the wall, inducing the boiling commencement,
and then the bubbly flow occurs. The vapor pro-
duction characterized by both the size and number
of bubbles is increased by the further evaporation,
which induces the strong interaction and frequent
coalescence between the bubbles. When the bubbles
depart from the wall and then flow with the main
stream, they interact and coalesce into larger bub-
bles, the bubbly-slug flow occurs. At high branch-
ing level, the decrease in channel diameter signifi-
cantly changes the distribution of the vapor-liquid
two phases. When the bubble length is larger the
channel diameter, the flow pattern transforms from
bubbly-slug flow to slug flow.
3.2. Vairation of Pressure, Void
Fraction and Fluid
Temperature
As shown in Fig. 5, a sharp increase in the void
faction indicates the passage of vapor bubble and
a drop indicates the arrival of liquid phase. At
high branching level (k = 3 and 4), the slug
flow and the smaller channel diameter lead to
the long-time emergence of high void fraction
(ϕ = 1).
The temporal evolution of pressure, fluid temper-
ature and void fraction for the selected section at
4th branching level is shown in Fig. 6. The vari-
ations of pressure, void fraction and fluid temper-
ature are completely synchronized, indicating the
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Numerical Study on Flow Boiling in a Tree-Shaped Microchannel

water vapor
vapor
water

t = 11.4ms t = 14.39ms

t = 11.7ms t = 14.59ms
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t = 11.8ms t = 14.7ms

t = 12ms t = 15.08ms
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

t = 12.3ms t = 15.25ms

t = 12.8ms t = 16.01ms

(a) Coalesce-lift-off (b) Coalesce-slide

t = 6.14ms t = 15ms

t = 6.26ms t = 17ms

t = 6.31ms t = 19ms

t = 6.6ms t = 21.6ms

t = 6.85ms t = 22ms

t = 7.53ms t = 24ms

(c) Coalesce-reattachment (d) Bubble breakup at bifurcation

Fig. 3 The temporal evolution of bubble dynamic behaviors (red-vapor, blue-liquid).

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W. Yu et al.

(a) 50
40
30

p (Pa)
20
10
0
(b) 520
480

T (K)
440
400
360
(c) 1.0
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0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
t (s)

Fig. 6 The temporal evolution of pressure, fluid tempera-

Fig. 4 The flow patterns in tree-shaped microchannel with ture and void fraction for selected section at 4th branching
inlet mass flow rate G = 50 kg/m2 · s at t = 20 ms. level.
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

(a) 0.4 which occupies the channel induces sharp increase

k=0
0.3 in fluid temperature. The pressure fluctuation in
0.2 the microchannel is induced by the alternate flow of
0.1 vapor and liquid phases. Additionally, the growth,
0.0 expansion and coalescence of tiny nucleating bub-
(b) 0.8 k = 1
0.6 bles at the wall will deform the interface of two
0.4 phases, and consequently affect the pressures.
0.2
0.0
(c) 1.0 k = 2
0.8 3.3. Pressure Drop
0.6
0.4 The pressure drop is simply the pressure difference
0.2 between inlet and outlet across each branching level.
0.0
(d) 1.0 After the flow boiling reaches stability, the time-
0.8 k = 3 averaged pressure drop across the entire microchan-
0.6
0.4 nel is 279 Pa. Figure 7 shows the time-averaged
0.2 pressure drop in the function of branching level. As
0.0
(e) 1.0 k = 4
shown, the pressure drop decreases with the increas-
0.8 ing of branching level. This phenomenon is induced
0.6 by the different channel confinement effects and flow
0.4
0.2 patterns at each branching level.
0.0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
t (s) 80

Fig. 5 The temporal evolution of void fraction for selected 70

section at each branching level.
Δ p (Pa)

60

vapor phase significantly affects local pressure and 50

fluid temperature. The high share of vapor phase 40
leads to higher pressure and fluid temperature,
30
which indicates that the vapor phase has higher
0 1 2 3 4
temperature than the liquid phase and the liquid k
phase maintains at around saturation temperature.
At higher branching levels, the passage of bubble Fig. 7 The pressure drop across each branching level.

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Numerical Study on Flow Boiling in a Tree-Shaped Microchannel

400
Twout Tw0 Tw1 (a) 400
395 Tw2 Tw3 Tw4 395
390

Tw (K)
390 385
Tw (K)

380
385
375
(b) 60000
380

h (W/m2·K)
40000
375
20000
0.008 0.010 0.012 0.014
t (s) 0
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(c) 100
80
Fig. 8 The averaged wall temperature of each branching

Nu
60
level and at the outlet. 40
20
0
3.4. Wall Temperature 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
L (mm)
The averaged wall temperature of each branching
level (Tw0 , Tw1 , Tw2 , Tw3 , Tw4 ) and averaged tem- Fig. 9 The variation of local wall temperature, heat trans-
perature at the outlet (Tout ) after the flow boil- fer coefficient and Nusselt number along the channel at 3rd
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

ing reached steady state is shown in Fig. 8. The
heat flux applied at the outer wall induces a super-
heated thermal boundary layer at the inner wall
that thickens along the flow direction, which con-
tributes to the increase of active sites. Owing to the
fast growth of bubbles and their coalescence into
large bubbles, the liquid absorbs more energy dur-
ing the evaporation process with the larger super-
heat degree of liquid, resulting in the wall temper-
ature drops from Tw1 to Tw3 . While, as the slug
flow occurs at 4th branching level, the slug bubble
may contact the wall, inducing the increase in wall
temperature.
3.5. Heat Transfer Performance
The local heat transfer performance of flow boil-
ing between the inner wall and the working fluid is
expressed by the Nusselt number (N uloc ), which is
calculated for all positions at the heated wall along
the flow direction.
The local heat transfer coefficient (hloc ), channel
hydraulic diameter (Dh ) and local thermal conduc-
tivity of mixture phases (λloc ) were used for calcu-
lating N uloc ,
λloc = (1 − ϕ)λl + ϕλv ,
q branching level, and then sharply decreases in the
hloc = , (19)
Tw,loc − Tsat
hloc Dh
N uloc = , (20)
λloc
where Tsat (Tsat = 373.15 K) is the saturation
temperature of water and is considered constant
branching level.
throughout the microchannel, Tw,loc is the local wall
temperature.
The local Nusselt number indicates the influence
of bubble dynamic behaviors on the heat transfer
performance in microchannel. Figure 9 plots the
local wall temperature, heat transfer coefficient and
Nusselt number at 3th branching level. As shown,
the heat transfer performance varies dramatically
along the flow direction at same branching level, due
to the inherently chaotic nature of boiling mecha-
nism. The peak of local Nusselt number indicates
the high vapor quality and low wall temperature.
As the vapor has much lower thermal conductivity
compared to liquid, the bubble accumulation at the
wall blocks the contact between the liquid and solid,
thus inducing the sharp increasing of wall tempera-
ture, and deteriorating the heat transfer, while the
bubble departure from the wall induces the increas-
ing of heat transfer. Figure 10 shows averaged heat
transfer coefficient and Nusselt numbers as the func-
tion of branching level. Heat transfer performance
of each branching level is quite different due to the
variations of flow patterns and channel confinement
effect. As shown in Figs. 4 and 10a, first, there is an
(18)
increase in heat transfer coefficient from 0th to 2th
area of developed boiling from 2th to 4th branching
level with higher shares of the vapor phase. This
phenomenon is ascribed to that the heat transfer
dominated by nucleate boiling occurs at 0th to 2th
branching level, where the channel is occupied by
bubbly and bubbly-slug flows. While the nucleate

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W. Yu et al.

48000 Table 2 The Nusselt Numbers of Flow Boiling at

Each Branch.
45000
No. Nu Nu Nu Nu Nu
h (W/m ⋅K)

42000 (k = 0) (k = 1) (k = 2) (k = 3) (k = 4)
2

39000 
1 31.4 31.5 35.6 31.4 20.9

2 34.0 38.8 30.0 23.4
36000 
3 33.2 29.7 19.1

4 38.8 30.4 25.1
33000 
5 30.4 19.3
0 1 2 3 4 
6 29.7 21.9
by UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO on 01/01/20. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

k 
7 33.4 21.8
(a)

8 31.6 22.3

9 21.7

10 21.6
40

11 21.7

12 22.8
35 
13 20.3

14 21.6
30  23.3
Nu

15


Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

16 21.5
25

20 52000
0 1 2 3 4 48000
k
h (W/m2⋅K)

(b) 44000

Fig. 10 (a) The averaged heat transfer coefficient and (b) 40000
averaged Nusselt number of each branching level. G = 50kg/m2⋅s
36000 G = 250kg/m2⋅s
G = 500kg/m2⋅s
32000
0 1 2 3 4
boiling is gradually suppressed at 2th to 4th branch- k
ing level, where the channel is occupied by slug (a)
flows. Based on the Nusselt numbers of each branch-
ing level in Table 2, Fig. 10b shows the averaged 50000
q = 20w/cm2
Nusselt number of each branching level. The tran- q = 10w/cm2
sition from bubbly to bubbly-slug flow with higher 45000 q = 5w/cm2
h (W/m2⋅K)

shares of vapor phase induces the increase in heat

transfer at 0 to 2 branching level. Oppositely, from 40000

2 to 4th branching level where slug bubbles fill the

35000
channel, the heat transfer becomes weaker with the
higher branching level. 30000
Generally, the mass flow rate and heat flux are 0 1 2 3 4
two important factors that influence the heat trans- k
fer coefficient. Therefore, effects of mass flow rate (b)
and heat flux on heat transfer coefficient in tree-
Fig. 11 Effects of mass flow rate and heat flux on the heat
shaped microchannel are investigated. As shown transfer coefficient: (a) mass flow rate G and (b) heat flux q.
in Fig. 11a, the heat transfer coefficient rises with
increasing of the mass flow rate. This is attributed
to the fact that larger mass flow rate results in larger affects the bubble dynamics, including the nucle-
velocity of gas-liquid flow under same working fluid ate sites and the frequency of bubble growth and
and the same hydraulic diameter, which induces detachment, thereby affecting the interface undula-
stronger interface undulations, thus increasing the tions. Moreover, the temperature gradient in liquid
heat transfer coefficient. Additionally, the heat flux film is larger under higher heat flux. Thus, as shown

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 November 27, 2019 11:27 0218-348X
1950111
Numerical Study on Flow Boiling in a Tree-Shaped Microchannel
in Fig. 11b, the heat transfer coefficient rises with
the increase in heat flux.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The numerical study on flow boiling through a
tree-shaped microchannel was conducted via VOF
method to investigate the bubble dynamic behav-
iors, the pressure drop, heat transfer performance
and the effects of mass flow rate and heat flux on
by UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO on 01/01/20. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.
the heat transfer coefficient. The main conclusions
are summarized as follows:
(1) Three main bubble dynamic behaviors includ-
ing coalesce-lift-off, coalesce-slide and coalesce-
reattachment are obtained. Bubble coalescence
is pervasive in flow boiling, and the appear-
ances of lift-off, slide or reattachment depend
on the local flow field. At the bifurcation in
Fractals 2019.27. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
high branching level, the bubbles may coalesce
or breakup.
(2) Three typical flow patterns including the bub-
bly, bubbly-slug and slug flows are sequentially
observed along the flow direction. The bub-
bly and bubbly-slug flows occur at low branch-
ing level. While the slug flow occurs at high
branching level due to the combined effects
of bubble dynamics and channel confinement,
the decrease in channel diameter significantly
changes the distribution of vapor and liquid
phases.
(3) The passage of vapor bubble induces the
increasing of local pressure and fluid temper-
ature. The pressure drop decreases with the
increase in branching level. Due to the high
thermal resistance of vapor phase, the bubbles
attaching to the wall would cause the hot spot
of the wall, inducing the sharp increase in wall
temperature.
(4) The flow pattern and channel confinement
have vital influence on the heat transfer of
the microchannel. The typical nucleate boil-
ing dominant heat transfer was observed at low
branching level, where the channel is occupied
by bubbly and bubbly-slug flows; thus, the heat
transfer performance is enhanced with increas-
ing branching level from k = 0 to 2. Because
the nucleate boiling is gradually suppressed at
3th to 4th branching level, where the chan-
nel is occupied by slug flows, the heat trans-
fer performance weakens. Moreover, the heat
transfer coefficient in tree-shaped microchannel
increases with the mass flow rate and heat flux.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51876184
and 51776037), and 333 Project of Jiangsu Province
(Grant No. BRA2016393).
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