Review Article
NASA FluidsLAB Workshop Discipline Area Report: Boiling and Condensation
Van P. Carey and Scott Downing
On October 24–25, 2014, NASA Headquarters and the NASA Glenn Research Center sponsored the FluidsLAB Workshop in Pasadena, CA as part of the 30th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research. The two-day event brought together scientists and engineers from academia, industry, other government agencies, and international space agencies. The goal of the workshop was to identify key engineering drivers and research priorities, and to provide overall recommendations for the development of the next generation of fluids science experiments for the International Space Station (ISS). This article describes the recommendations from the Boiling and Condensation group at the workshop, which was co-chaired by Van P. Carey, University of California at Berkeley, and Scott Downing, United Technologies Corporation. The paper assesses proposed new research directions from the perspectives of scientific merit, microgravity justification, terrestrial applications, benefits to NASA, and significance/impact. Based on these assessments, recommended experimental microgravity boiling and condensation program directions are summarized.
Keywords: FluidsLAB, workshop, boiling, condensation, evaporation, heat transfer, thermophysics, two-phase, flow, microgravity, reduced gravity, fluid science experiments, International Space Station, NA SA, research priorities.