Effects of Force Fields on Interface Dynamics, in view of Two-Phase Heat Transfer Enhancement and Phase Management for Space Applications

On earth, gravity barely influences the dynamics of interfaces. For what concerns bubbles, buoyancy governs the dynamics of boiling mechanism and thus affects boiling heat transfer capacity. While, for droplets, the coupled effects of wettability and gravity affects interface exchanges. In space, in the lack of gravity, rules are changed and new phenomena come into play. The present work is aimed to study the effects of electric field on the shape and behaviour of bubbles and droplets in order to understand how to handle microgravity applications; in particular, the replacement of gravity with electric field and their coupled effects are evaluated. The experiments spread over different setups, gravity conditions, working fluids, interface conditions. Droplets and bubbles have been analysed with and without electric field, with and without (adiabatic) heat and mass transfer across the interface. Furthermore, the results of the 4 ESA Parabolic Flight Campaigns (PFC 58, 60, 64 & 66), for adiabatic bubbles, adiabatic droplets and evaporating droplets, will be summarized, discussed, and compared with the ground tests.