Steady-state behaviour of 2D pool-boiling problems

The steady-state behaviour of controlled pool boiling is studied in terms of a representative model problem. This model problem involves only the temperature distribution within the heater and models the heat exchange with the boiling medium via a nonlinearcondition imposed on the heater-medium interface.Numerical steady-state solutions are obtained with a continuation algorithm based upon treatment of the governing equations with the method of separation-of-variables and a Fourier collocation method. Analysis of a typical case study demonstrates existence of multiple steady-state solutions with essentially heterogeneous temperature distributions on the heater-medium interface. These heterogeneous solutions emerge pair-wise and are phenomenologicallyconsistent with long-lived vapour patches on the heater-medium interface observed in laboratory experiments on controlled transient pool boiling.