Heat Transfer of Impacting Water Mist on High Temperature Metal Surfaces

Experimental studies were conducted to reveal the heat transfer mechanism of impacting water mist on high temperature metal surfaces. Local heat transfer coefficients were measured in the film-boiling regime at various air velocities and liquid mass fluxes. The test conditions of water mist cover the variations of air velocity from 0 to 50.3 m/s, liquid mass flux from 0 to 7.67 kg/m²s, and surface temperature of stainless steel between 525°C and 500°C. Radial heat transfer distributions were measured at different liquid mass fluxes. The tests revealed that the radial variation of heat transfer coefficients of water mist has a similar trend to the air jet cooling. At the stagnation point, heat transfer coefficient increases with both the air velocity and the liquid mass flux. The convective air heat transfer is consistent with the published correlation in the literature. The heat transfer contribution due to the presence of water increases almost linearly with the liquid mass flux. The total heat transfer coefficient can be established as two separable effects, which is the summation of the heat transfer coefficient of air and of liquid mass flux, respectively. This study shows that with a small amount of water added in the impacting air jet, the heat transfer is dramatically increased. The Leidenfrost temperature under water mist cooling was also measured. The Leidenfrost temperature increased with both the air velocity and the liquid mass flux.