Transparent heater for study of the boiling crisis near the vapor–liquid critical point

Yves Garrabos (1, 2) , Carole Lecoutre-Chabot (1, 2) , Daniel Beysens (3, 4, 2) , Vadim Nikolayev (3, 4, 2) , Sébastien Barde (5) , Gabriel Pont (5) , Bernard Zappoli (5)

1 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux
2 ESEME : Équipe du Supercritique pour l'Environnement, les Matériaux et l'Espace : Équipe commune CEA-CNRS (2000-2014)
3 PMMH - Physique et mécanique des milieux hétérogenes (UMR 7636)
4 SBT - Service des Basses Températures
5 CNES - Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse]

New design for a pressurized optical cell dedicated to study the boiling crisis in non-homogeneous critical fluids in microgravity conditions is presented. The main characteristic concerns in situ integration of a heating device as a form of transparent resistive thin layer appropriate for light transmission observation of the liquid film boiling, by monitoring the thermal power produced by this heater. High-resolution and high-speed optical diagnostics complement in situ temperature measurements. Illustrations of the high-level performances are provided by the preliminary results obtained during the Earth's tests of the CNES-DECLIC facility, using two (vertical and horizontal) configurations of the heating device with respect to the gravity field acceleration.

Mots clés: Boiling crisis; Critical heat flux; Liquid–gas critical point

Domaines: Matériaux; Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]

Yves Garrabos, Carole Lecoutre-Chabot, Daniel Beysens, Vadim Nikolayev, Sébastien Barde, et al.. Transparent heater for study of the boiling crisis near the vapor–liquid critical point. Acta Astronautica, 2010, 66 (5-6), pp.760-768. ⟨10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.08.018⟩. ⟨hal-00459844⟩