Bubble sweeping and jet flows during nucleate boiling of subcooled liquids

An experimental investigation was conducted to investigate nucleate boiling on a very fine heating wire. By using zoom routine and CCD camera system, the dynamical process of nucleate boiling was visually observed. Sweeping bubbles and several modes of jet flows were described and discussed. For some cases, big bubbles, small bubbles, sweeping bubbles and jet flows coexisted in boiling system, and greatly enhanced heat transfer. These phenomena are quite different from usual observation of nucleate boiling. In this paper, the process of bubble sweeping phenomenon is described in detail and the effect induced by sweeping bubbles is argued. And also, several jet flows are illustrated and discussed, as well as the interaction between bubble sweeping and jet flows.