Experimental study of droplets impact onto heated walls using combined optical techniques: single droplets, multiple droplets and sprays

• Grant number: 21/01897-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2022
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Transport Phenomena
• Principal Investigator: Arthur Vieira da Silva Oliveira
• Grantee: Arthur Vieira da Silva Oliveira
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Carlos
• Associated researchers: Gherhardt Ribatski ; Labergue Alexandre ; Luben Cabezas Gómez ; Michel Guy Alain GRADECK
• Associated research grant(s): 25/13876-9 - Advances in droplet impact study for spray characterization: development of sapphire for thermography and droplet coalescence mapping, AP.R; 23/14864-9 - Strengthening, expanding and enduring the research collaboration between EESC/USP and LEMTA/UL on droplet impact studies and its applications, AP.R SPRINT; 22/06199-2 - Combined Shadowgraphy and PLIF for dynamical and thermal characterization of fluids, AP.EMU
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/01107-0 - Experimental and numerical study of impact dynamics and heat transfer in spray cooling process, BP.DR; 24/08409-0 - Characterization of secondary droplets and mass lost during droplet impact on heated walls., BP.IC; 24/10845-2 - Energy balance during a droplet impact on a heated wall, BP.MS; + associated scholarships 23/18108-4 - Quantitative analysis of automotive spray using the Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) technique, BP.IC; 23/15397-5 - Wall rewetting during single and multiple droplet impact on a heated surface: theoretical and experimental investigation, BP.DD; 23/08266-1 - Building an experimental database of droplet impact on heated walls using Shadowgraphy and infrared thermography, BP.IC; 23/09775-7 - Characterization of the freezing process of droplets on cold surfaces using optical techniques., BP.IC; 23/03243-3 - Spray cooling: transient thermal modeling with the Monte Carlo method, BP.IC; 22/16400-7 - Calibration and application of laser-induced fluorescence for liquid-phase thermography, BP.IC; 22/12257-5 - Study of droplets impact onto heated walls using Lattice Boltzmann Method, BP.DD; 22/13480-0 - Mapping droplet impact regimes on heated and unheated surfaces, BP.IC; 22/08694-0 - Droplet impact characterization by high-speed shadowgraph and total internal reflection, BP.MS; 22/05287-5 - High-repeatability monodisperse droplet generator: project, development and validation, BP.IC; 22/00040-1 - Experimental study of droplets impact onto heated walls using combined optical techniques: single droplets, multiple droplets and sprays, BP.JP - associated scholarships

Abstract

Droplets and sprays impact onto heated walls have drawn much attention from the Thermal Engineering community because of its many applications that allow uniform and efficient heat exchange, especially for the cooling of high-temperature parts. However, most of the experimental studies in the literature only visualize the droplets impact or use intrusive measurement methods. This lead to arbitrary analyses and characterizations of the droplets impact fluid dynamics and limited investigation of the involved heat transfer processes. Furthermore, little is known about multiple droplets impact, which may be an important leap to associate single-droplet phenomena to spray cooling applications. The present research project looks to bring light to this droplet-spray correlation by proposing the use of combined optical techniques to characterize the impact and cooling of a single droplet, multiple droplets and dilute sprays. The simultaneous measurement techniques are: shadowgraph for the droplet's size and velocity, planar laser-induced fluorescence for the droplet's temperature, infrared thermography for the surface temperature, and total internal reflection for the droplet-wall contact. These techniques were carefully chosen to be applicable for all the test conditions defined in this project. The test sections (sapphire dove prism with coating and metallic sheet) were designed to allow to most combined measurement techniques possible. This effort to measure all these parameters will allow making a complete characterization of the thermal-hydraulics during droplets' impact. With direct observations through imaging and with detailed mass and energy balance modeling, conclusive information of droplets-impact cooling will be obtained, like heat transfer coefficients, Leidenfrost temperatures, and droplets interactions' effects. Hence, better and physics-based models for droplets and spray cooling can be developed, as well as more a comprehensive mapping of droplets impact regimes. Part of the equipment is already existent in the host institution, which helps to decrease substantially the cost of the experimental apparatus. Two direct doctoral students will work on this project. The first will compare single droplets' behaviors to spray cooling in the Leidenfrost regime, and the other will focus on multiple droplets impact in the Leidenfrost regime. Both of them will have the opportunity for a co-mentored doctoral diploma working at the LEMTA at the Université de Lorraine, in Nancy, France, where they will perform experiments with a different apparatus to compare with the results obtained in the new apparatus proposed in this project, as well as test other experimental conditions. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ROCHA, C. E. B. M.; CAMPOS-ARAYA, A. F.; SILVA FILHO, J. M. M.; KITA, Y.; OLIVEIRA, A. V. S.. From single droplets to dilute sprays: New data and semi-empirical model for the cooling efficiency of droplet impact in the film boiling regime. APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING, v. 279, p. 13-pg., 2025-11-15. (23/08266-1, 23/14469-2, 23/03243-3, 21/01897-0, 23/15397-5, 22/06199-2)

NETTO, ARLINDO T. SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, ARTHUR V. S.; GRADECK, MICHEL; DOS SANTOS, ROGERIO GONSALVES. Experimental investigation of the heating process of a small volume ethanol under subcritical, critical and supercritical pressures. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THERMAL SCIENCES, v. 219, p. 12-pg., 2025-01-25. (22/06199-2, 21/01897-0)

DO NASCIMENTO, RAFAEL DIAS; GRADECK, MICHEL; OLIVEIRA, ARTHUR V. S.. INVERSE ARX (IARX) METHOD WITH DELAY PARAMETER FOR FUNCTION ESTIMATION IN SLOW-RESPONSE SYSTEMS: APPLICATION TO AN INVERSE HEAT CONDUCTION PROBLEM. COMPUTATIONAL THERMAL SCIENCES, v. 17, n. 5, p. 14-pg., 2025-01-01. (21/01897-0)