*Corresponding author: 130 East Wilson Bridge Road, Suite 140, Columbus, OH 43085,
jeff@altasimtechnologies.com
Abstract: Quenching of material from high compared to the corners, where high flow rates
temperatures using forced fluid flow has been produce maximum cooling. Using analyses of
analyzed and the results compared with this type, a more even distribution of heat
experimental data. Heat transfer arising from transfer can be produced by providing a uniform
forced gas flow involves transfer of energy via flow of air over the surface and focusing
conduction, convection and radiation. Heat concentrated flow on areas in which higher heat
transfer due to quenching into liquid media transfer is required.
incorporates the effects of the liquid to gas phase Analysis of heat transfer under conditions
transformation. where phase transformation occurs in the cooling
fluid is more complex and must consider the
Keywords: Conjugate heat transfer, Fluid flow, range of near-wall effects arising from film
Conduction, Convection, Radiation. boiling, transition boiling, nucleate boiling and
pure convection. The near-wall boiling processes
that strongly influence heat transfer from the part
1. Introduction to the quenching medium operate on a scale that
is many orders of magnitude smaller than the
The controlled transfer of heat from a component size. To accommodate these
component to its surroundings is critical for the different scales, the complex three-dimensional
operation of many industrial processes. For physics near the wall are analyzed using sets of
example, cooling of electronics components is equations that are solved only on the walls of the
needed to maintain safe operation and extend component. Under these conditions, accurate
operating lifetime, while quenching of materials analysis of the heat transfer can be obtained for
from elevated temperatures is often required to the differential heat transfer rates into the gas or
develop specific microstructural features that liquid phase and the effect of gas formation on
provide prescribed properties. Heat transfer can the flow behavior
occur by mechanisms such as: natural or forced
convection, conduction into adjacent material or 2. Theory and Governing Equations
supports and, if the temperature is high enough,
by radiation to the surrounding environment. In 2.1 Gas Quench
some cases, heat transfer may be accomplished In gas quenching, the part is cooled by means
while maintaining the fluid as a single phase; in of a combination of radiation to the surroundings
others, heat transfer may be sufficiently high to and conduction from the surface of the part into
cause a phase transition from liquid to gas. the gas. The gas carries the thermal energy away
The conjugate heat transfer problem has been from the part by conduction and convection.
analyzed using COMSOL Multiphysics and
applied to conditions with and without phase Heat transfer within the solid part is described by
transformation. For the simple case when no the well-known heat equation:
phase transformation occurs in the coolant T
media, the rate of heat dissipation is a function of cp T (1)
conduction and convection to the flowing fluid. t
The flow conditions and component geometry
where, ρ is the density of the solid material, cp is
may give rise to turbulent flow that affects the
the specific heat capacity, T is the temperature,
heat dissipation over the surface. For this case,
and λ is the thermal conductivity. The density,
the existence of stagnated flow regions is
specific heat capacity, and thermal conductivity
observed and produces limited heat transfer
are functions of temperature. The heat flux at
In the presence of mutually irradiating where λg is the thermal conductivity of the gas, δ
surfaces, COMSOL Multiphysics automatically
computes the ambient view factor and mutual is the film thickness, and Tsat is the boiling
irradiation. temperature of the liquid.
High gas flow rates used for quenching During Stage 5 (purely convective heat
typically produce turbulence, and an appropriate transfer), the boiling has stopped, and the
turbulence model must be used in conjunction physics may be characterized as a typical
with the standard fluid equations. The optimal conjugate heat transfer problem with the wall
model calculates the energy transport in the gas equations enforcing temperature continuity
with sufficient accuracy while minimizing between the solid and liquid. Thus, the two-
memory requirements and computation time. phase fluid flow reduces to standard fluid
Subject to these constraints, a variant of the k-ε equations (continuity, momentum and energy)
model was implemented in which the physics of
the gas are described by the standard equations u 0 (4)
for continuity, momentum and energy.
(5)
2
u u p u u T u I g
2.2 Liquid Quench 3
Figure 2: Comparison of Temperature vs Time during Figure 3: Fluid flow velocity associated with bubble
quench for thermocouple measurements and analytical formation at the interface between the hot component
predictions and the fluid during quenching where phase
transformation occurs from liquid to gas.
The results show excellent agreement between
the predicted and measured values of the Commercial quenching operations generally
temperature as a function of time for a variety of include forced fluid flow as well as fluid flow
thermocouple locations, especially over the introduced by the phase transformation from
critical temperature range of interest. Small liquid to gas. To provide a complete analysis of
variations between the predicted and the flow pattern within a commercial quenching
tank and the resulting thermal distribution in the