Nucleate Boiling

The most general kind of local boiling encountered in nuclear facilities is the nucleate boiling. In nucleate boiling, steam bubbles build at the heat transfer surface and then break away and are taken into the main stream of the fluid. Such movement improves heat transfer since the heat produced at the surface is taken directly into the fluid stream. Once in the chief fluid stream, the bubbles collapse since the bulk temperature of the fluid is not as high as the heat transfer surface temperature where the bubbles were formed. This heat transfer procedure is at times desirable since the energy formed at the heat transfer surface is rapidly and proficiently "carried" away.