Numerical simulation of a heater wire behavior under film boiling

When film boiling occurs on a heating element surface, the heating element temperature increases to hundreds of degrees Celsius. Consequently, the heating element becomes prone to failure owing to thermal and external loads. In this respect, the prediction of the heating element behavior during film boiling is important in many industrial applications, such as steel manufacturing and nuclear reactors. This study presents numerical simulations of nichrome heater wire deformation under film boiling conditions for the first time. To do so, conjugate film boiling heat transfer simulations were conducted in the 2D domain, and the temperature distribution inside the wire was used in the 3D static structural analysis. This one-way fluid-thermal-structure interaction approach was experimentally validated. It was shown that surface heat transfer was not significantly affected by the heat wire deformation. The effect of external force was also investigated. Under film boiling conditions, the displacement was large even for small external forces, and plastic deformation was observed. Accordingly, the heating element is more susceptible to failure under film boiling conditions. The results also demonstrate the importance of predicting the heating element behavior at high temperatures. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.