Experimental Investigation of Phase-Change Heat Transfer on Engineered Surfaces for Compact Thermal Systems

About the Project

This exciting PhD project aims to experimentally investigate the fundamental nucleation, liquid-film, and heat-transfer mechanisms that govern phase-change heat transfer on engineered surfaces, with a primary focus on boiling and/or condensation in compact thermal systems. These processes underpin a wide range of industrial technologies, including air-conditioning and refrigeration, compact heat exchangers, electronics cooling, and waste-heat recovery, where higher performance must be delivered from smaller, lighter components with improved reliability.

Despite major progress in surface engineering, industrial design tools and correlations often rely on simplified assumptions and limited validation. As a result, systems are frequently designed with overly conservative margins or tuned through costly trial-and-error, largely because of validation gaps and a lack of high-fidelity experimental datasets that connect surface structure and wetting behaviour to local phase-change dynamics under realistic operating conditions.

Building on advances in non-intrusive optical diagnostics and modern surface fabrication methods, this project will establish and use an experimental platform to capture and quantify the key processes that control heat transfer and stability on engineered surfaces. A range of experimental configurations will be explored to balance the trade-off between measurement accessibility and faithful representation of industrial conditions.

The successful applicant will be expected to be an integral part of a research programme with strong links to industry-relevant challenges. Key objectives will include:

• Develop and operate an experimental setup for repeatable boiling/condensation measurements under controlled conditions.
• Design, modify, and test engineered surfaces to examine how surface structure and wetting influence phase-change behaviour.
• Apply advanced diagnostics and data analysis to extract local and global indicators of phase-change dynamics and thermal performance.
• Identify dominant mechanisms across operating regimes, with particular emphasis on conditions that trigger instability and performance loss.
• Translate findings into practical guidance to support the design of more efficient, compact, and reliable industrial thermal systems.