Boiling heat transfer

Summary

Boiling heat transfer is heat transfer from a hot surface to a liquid whose saturation temperature is below that of the surface. Then vapour forms at the surface. The latent heat carried off by the vapour and the stirring by bubbles make it one of the most efficient modes of heat transfer. Its dependence on the wall superheat is shown by the boiling curve, with the regimes of natural convection, nucleate boiling, transition boiling and film boiling. The peak of the nucleate regime, the critical heat flux, is a key safety limit for boilers and nuclear reactors.