Numerical simulation of spray cooling heat transfer evolution based on experimental data

Spray cooling is an effective solution for high heat flux dissipation challenges. Accurate prediction of heat transfer efficiency by numerical simulation can reduce the cost of spray cooling in engineering applications. To improve the accuracy of numerical simulation, this study develops a mathematical model for droplet collision and heat transfer response based on experimental data. In spray cooling experiments, droplets are sprayed onto a 200 °C aluminum alloy thermal wall using an atomizing nozzle, temperature is monitored, and the curve of heat flux variation during cooling is estimated from temperature data. Analysis of high-speed photography results provides the droplet diameter, velocity, and spatial distribution. We discover that the average Weber number of droplets, We, has a power-law relationship with the volumetric flow rate, Q, as We ∼ Q1.55. The velocity and position of spray droplets approximately follow a normal distribution, while the diameter follows a Log-normal distribution. By analyzing the relation between heat flux and spray distribution, an experimental-data-based model, named Droplet Collision-Associated Heat Transfer Model, is designed. Integrating this experimental-data-based model with the discrete phase model (DPM), the heat transfer evolution process in spray cooling is simulated with high reliability. Particles sources are generated based on the experimentally obtained droplet parameter probability distributions, DPM is used to capture the trajectories of droplets, and the droplet impact heat transfer correlation model calculates the thermal response of the wall. Compared with experimental results, the simulation error is only 7.49%. Simulation results indicate that spray cooling at high flow rates has better temperature uniformity.