| Abstract: | The thickness of a liquid microlayer underneath a vapor bubble on a heated, cylindrical probe was determined by simultaneously solving the fourth‐order differential equation for the microlayer thickness that incorporates the momentum and energy equations in the microlayer in conjunction with the pressure distribution in the microlayer and the evaporative heat flux at the interface. The analysis also considers the temperature gradient along the probe due to heat transfer in the probe. The results show that the microlayer on a cylindrical surface is very thin and short except for very low probe surface temperatures, superheated less than 1 K. The microlayer size and the evaporative heat flux both decrease rapidly as the surface temperature increases. The results show that most of the evaporation occurs along the curved portion of the interface. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 29(3): 193–203, 2000 |
