Mathematical Modeling of the Evaporator of Two-phase Heat Transfer Devices 2003-01-2389

This study focuses on the mathematical modeling of the evaporator section of the two-phase heat transfer devices: heat pipes, loop heat pipes and capillary pumped loops. Although the heat pipe technology made its first public appearance in the early forties, some operational aspects of two-phase systems are still not well understood, and research in this area continues. The evaporation and condensation process, taking place in these systems is among the most complex phenomena encountered in engineering applications. In this study, full three-dimensional incompressible energy, momentum and mass conservation equations are solved by using the finite element method to predict thermal operational characteristics of the two-phase heat transfer devices. The main focus of the study is the modeling of the phase transition region in the evaporator section.