Stability of Boiling Systems

Abstract

Boiling is a highly efficient heat transfer process, therefore, it is generally far from equilibrium. On the other hand, liquid-vapor equilibrium (VLE) process is normally considered at a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. We herein proposed the analogies existing among these two processes. The steady-state behavior and transient characteristics were compared, based on which the stable/metastable/unstable features of their system dynamics were discussed.