液氢沸点极低,在存储、运输与应用的各个方面,沸腾相变都不可避免。准确预测其沸腾特性对于相关工业设备的设计与运行至关重要。现有低温两相流体沸腾模拟通常采用流体体积法,难以模拟包括成核在内的整个过程,并且需要借助一系列经验参数,缺乏实际物理意义,在不同应用场景下的取值也不统一。液氢独特的物性,如低密度、低粘度,极高的润湿性等使其沸腾现象相比其他流体更加复杂。为解决上述问题,本工作基于格子玻尔兹曼方法(LBM)研究液氢的池沸腾特性,基于对应态原理构建了格子单位与实际单位间的映射机制,并在LBM中引入了高精度亥姆霍兹能型状态方程,能够比现有研究中广泛采用的Peng-Robinson方程更加准确地反映两相区的非理想流体特性,显著提升仿真中流体热物性的预测精度。接着,建立了多松弛碰撞模型耦合经典四阶龙格库塔法的流动-相变求解器,通过薄液膜蒸发问题验证了模型的准确性。在此基础上,开展了微加热器上的池沸腾仿真,成功实现了气泡从成核、生长到脱离的全过程模拟,从介观角度揭示了液氢成核机理,以及重力、过热度、润湿性等因素对池沸腾特性的影响规律。通过改变壁面过热度,成功复现了从自然对流到膜态沸腾的完整流态演变,并获得了完整的沸腾曲线。
The boiling phase
change is a fundamental and inescapable physical process in every aspect of
liquid hydrogen storage, transportation, and vaporization applications.
Accurate prediction of boiling characteristics is crucial for the design,
verification, operation, and diagnostics of related industrial equipment and
processes. However, precise numerical simulation of boiling phenomena,
especially including the initiation of nucleation, is difficult using
conventional multiphase flow models such as the Volume of Fluid (VOF) and level
set. These approaches often relay on empirical correlations, which typically
deviate from physical basis for different specific scenarios. In addition,
different from other cryogenic fluids, liquid hydrogen exhibits an even more
complex phase change mechanism due to its unique physical properties, such as
extremely low density, low viscosity and high wettability. In this work, a
numerical model based on the mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is
developed to simulate the boiling process of hydrogen. A mapping mechanism
between lattice and physical units is established based on the principle of corresponding
states. The high-accuracy fundamental equation of state for hydrogen is
integrated into the LB method, which significantly improves the thermophysical
property data accuracy that reflects the non-ideal fluid’s behavior. A film
evaporation numerical experiment is used to validate the proposed model. A
boiling simulation of liquid hydrogen on a microheater is performed, which
successfully renders the nucleation, growth, and detachment of hydrogen
bubbles. The findings provide insights into the nucleation mechanism of liquid
hydrogen at the mesoscopic level.