Conjugate Heat Transfer Predictions for Subcooled Boiling Flow in a Horizontal Channel Using a Volume-of-Fluid Framework

The accuracy of CFD-based heat transfer predictions have been examined of relevance to liquid cooling of IC engines at high engine loads where some nucleate boiling occurs. Predictions based on: i) the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solution, and ii) Large Eddy Simulation (LES), have been generated. The purpose of these simulations is to establish the role of turbulence modelling on the accuracy and efficiency of heat transfer predictions for engine-like thermal conditions where published experimental data is available. A multi-phase mixture modelling approach, with a Volume-of-Fluid interface-capturing method, has been employed. To predict heat transfer in the boiling regime, the empirical boiling correlation of Rohsenow is used for both RANS and LES. The rate of vapour-mass generation at the wall surface is determined from the heat flux associated with the evaporation phase change. Predictions via CFD are compared with published experimental data showing that LES gives only slightly more accurate temperature predictions compared to RANS but at substantially higher computational cost.