This work addresses enhancing flow boiling heat transfer via the use of engineered surfaces possessing specific novel geometries created via femtosecond laser texturing. Surface functionalization can result in improved, more controlled, and denser nucleation as well as controlled surface rewetting, leading to reduced incipient superheats, higher heat transfer coefficients, reduced flow instabilities, and increased critical heat fluxes with respect to a non-modified reference surface. Specifically, this study investigates how bubble dynamics and heat transfer performance are affected by three different surface textures fabricated on 200 µm thick 316L stainless steel foils using a femtosecond (fs) laser. The examined textures consist of inclined (=45°) microgrooves, inclined (=45°) conical microholes, and laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs). Each textured surface’s degree of heat transfer enhancement is assessed with respect to a plain reference surface in identical operating conditions. The working fluid is PP1, a replacement of 3M™ FC-72 in heat transfer applications. Among the tested surfaces, submicron-scale LIPSSs contribute to the rewetting of the surface but only show a slight improvement when not combined with bigger microscale structures. The inclined grooves result in the most gradual onset, showing almost no incipient overshoot. The inclined conical microholes achieve superior results, improving heat transfer coefficients up to 70% and reducing the incipient temperature up to 13.5 °C over a plain reference surface.

In this paper, results of preparatory tests for a space experiment “Marangoni in Films” on board International Space Station are reported. The setup is thermalized at a setpoint temperature so that (thermal) Marangoni convection is exclusively a result of evaporative cooling of the film, here composed of a Hydrofluoroether (HFE)-7100, evaporating into nitrogen at a given setpoint pressure. The present paper is entirely devoted to the evaporation rates, whereas the Marangoni convection itself will be analyzed in future studies. Apart from the temperature and nitrogen pressure, various setpoints for the initial relative saturation in HFE-7100 vapor are explored. A special design of the test cell with a square chimney surrounding a square opening of the liquid layer permits to largely stabilize the evaporation rates during a longest-lasting middle stage (beyond the initial transients and the final film dry-out). In addition, it facilitates the use of vapor (digital-holographic) interferometry for measuring the evaporation rates, the results of which are compared with independent measurements by means of the pressure evolution within our sealed cell of a fixed volume. An excellent agreement is found before the final dry-out stage for all setpoint parameter combinations tested. The study is accompanied by numerical finite-element simulations in an axisymmetrized geometry, neglecting a possible influence of the Marangoni convection and verifying certain premises used in interferometric post-processing. Even if the simulation results might somewhat over-/underpredict in each particular case, the overall dependence of the evaporation rate on the setpoint parameters is well reproduced and the role of the buoyancy convection is thereby explored.

We examine the vapour cloud of a pure liquid evaporating from a millimetric cylindrical well/cavity/aperture. This is accomplished by injecting the liquid up a vertical pipe towards its outlet onto a horizontal substrate. The injection is halted before the liquid surpasses the substrate level. The resulting final state is a meniscus at or near the pipe's end. The analysis is realised by vapour interferometry (side view over the substrate) closely intertwined with simulations (including Stefan flow), which also help to fill up certain gaps in the measurements and provide computed evaporation rates. Comparison with experiment is facilitated by converting the computed vapour clouds into interferometric images, especially helpful when an inverse (Abel-type) conversion is difficult. Experiments are conducted in both microgravity (via parabolic flights) and ground conditions, thus enabling direct assessment of the role of gravity. The contrast is accentuated by a working liquid with heavy vapour (refrigerant HFE-7100), when instead of being flattened on ground the vapour cloud assumes a roughly hemispherical shape in microgravity. Furthermore, a non-trivial vapour-cloud response to the flight ${\rm g}$ -jitter (residual gravity oscillations) is unveiled, ${\rm g}$ -jitter vibrations posing a challenge for interferometry itself. A number of undesired but curious side issues are revealed. One concerns vapour formed deep inside the pipe during rapid injection and subsequently ejected into the field of view, which is detected experimentally and quantified in terms of vapour Taylor dispersion in the pipe. Others are an injection volume anomaly and parasitic postinjection specifically observed in microgravity conditions.

The near field evolution of a low Reynolds number free jet and associated turbulent fluctuations are investigated experimentally, in the presence of a grid placed at nozzle exit. The jet spreading characteristics without grid are validated first with available data in the literature and the well known features of vortex roll-up and pairing phenomena in the shear layer region are confirmed. The inclusion of a grid at the nozzle exit appears to reduce velocity fluctuations in the near field, but it accelerates the transition to a full-grown turbulent flow field with respect to axial distance, by the introduction of finer scales. Grids also cause mean velocity overshoot in the radial profile by distorting the approach flow in the boundary layer region ahead of the grid. Distinct vortex roll-up and pairing phenomena in the shear layer region could not be observed with grids. However, weak shear mode instabilities originating in the shear layer for 0 ≤ z/D ≤ 3 appear to interact with the potential core, leading to the formation of a “unified shear/preferred mode” instability. These features are dominantly seen for grid-mounted jet flows having large displacement thickness to grid opening ratio. Power spectra indicate a progressive evolution of turbulent flow features with respect to axial distance, starting with the development of inertial sub-range into a −5/3 slope exponent; followed by the establishment of full range of turbulent scales, and the eventual attainment of isotropy. The establishment of inertial sub-range is attributable to vortex-pairing and turbulent fragmentation in free jets and to the introduction of fine scales at the jet inlet in the cases with grids.