Effects of interfacial instability on film boiling of saturated liquid helium I above a horizontal surface

Abstract
Film boiling above a horizontal surface has been investigated theoretically and experimentally at standard gravity and 1 atm. Theoretical film boiling results for conventional fluids have been extended, on the basis of interfacial instability due to gravity, to include liquefied gases properties, such as low viscosity and small surface tension. In the experiments, primarily ordinary liquid helium I has been studied to extend the range of the film boiling Rayleigh numbers (based upon Laplace's reference length) from about 107 (reported for room temperature liquids) to values of the order of magnitude unity. The heat transfer data taken at surface excess temperatures ΔT (above the boiling point) between 80° and 300°K. have been correlated with a theoretical model which presumes the absence of any scaling length (Laplace length) associated with surface tension. At low ΔT the experimental results have been found to agree with a model which presumes a negligible influence of a scaling length due to surface tension and absence of detectable viscosity effects.

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