Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 793810 www.elsevier.

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The boiling crisis phenomenon Part II: dryout dynamics and burnout
T.G. Theofanous *, T.N. Dinh, J.P. Tu, A.T. Dinh
Center for Risk Studies and Safety, University of California, Santa Barbara, 6740 Cortona Drive, Goleta CA 93117, USA Accepted 10 December 2001

Abstract This is Part II of a two-part paper on the boiling crisis phenomenon. Here we report on burnout experiments conducted on fresh and aged heaters in pool boiling. Critical heat uxes (CHFs) were found to vary from 50% to 140% of the hydrodynamic limit, previously thought to exist at well-wetting conditions. The burnout events were captured in action (for the rst time), using highspeed, high-resolution infrared thermometry. Based on these observations and in conjunction with the levels of CHF reached, we are led to conclude that the phenomenon cannot be (macro)hydrodynamically limited, at least at normal pressure and gravity conditions. Based on infrared thermometry, and aided by X-ray radiography data on void fraction, the case for a scale separation phenomenon in high heat ux pool boiling is argued. This indicates that boiling crisis is controlled by the microhydrodynamics and rupture of an extended liquid microlayer, sitting and vaporizing autonomously on the heater surface. Further, the detailed dynamics of this microlayer, as revealed by our experiments, demonstrates that all previous thermally based models of boiling crisis are inappropriate. 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Boiling crisis; Burnout; Critical heat ux

1. Introduction More than half a century ago Kutateladze [13] introduced his hydrodynamic concept for burnout. Twenty years later [4], he followed with his famous barbotage experiments that specically related burnout (in pool boiling) to a liquid repulsion mechanism due to the counter-current ow of vapor at the heater surface. The experiments involved injection of dierent gases through microporous surfaces, and the incidence of repulsion was identied by the formation of a stable gas cushion in the immediate vicinity of the surface. The cushion was detected by loss of electrical contact between an electrode (wire) embedded ush with the microporous surface, and an electrode immersed in the bulk of the liquid. This break of stability was found to be captured well by a xed value of a grouping now known as the Kutateladze number (Ku). Namely,

s q2 4 v Ku Ucr rgq qv

where Ucr is the critical gas velocity for instability, q and qv are the liquid and vapor densities respectively, r is the surface tension, and g is the acceleration due to gravity. Gogonin and Kutateladze [5] went on to show by means of extensive experiments boiling ethanol on stainless steel plates, that (a) Ku 0:145 within 15%, and (b) the results were independent of the heater size for d P 2, where d is the heater length scale, L, made dimensionless by the capillary length d $ fr=gq qv g1=2 . In boiling, the vapor ow is related to the heat ux as Ucr qcr =Hlv qv 2 where qcr is the critical heat ux (CHF) (burnout ux), and Hlv is the latent heat of vaporization. Eqs. (1) and (2) lead to the KutateladzeZuber equation, discussed in Part I:

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-805-894-4900; fax: +1-805-8934927. E-mail address: theo@theo.ucsb.edu (T.G. Theofanous).

0894-1777/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 8 9 4 - 1 7 7 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 9 3 - 0

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Nomenclature Cp g Hlv k Ku l L N q t T U coecient of heat capacity, J/kg K gravitational acceleration, m/s2 latent heat of evaporation, J/kg thermal conductivity, W/m K Kutateladze number distance between nucleation sites, cm heater size, m nucleation site density, cm2 heat ux, kW/m2 time, s temperature, C velocity, m/s q r DT density, kg/m3 coecient of surface tension, N/m temperature dierence, K

Subscripts and superscripts cr critical KZ KutateladzeZuber liquid s saturation v gas, vapor w wall, heater dimensionless

Greek symbols d capillary length, or thickness, m

 qcr Ck qv Hlv

rgq qv q2 v

1=4 3

Due to variation of thermodynamic properties, the CHF predicted by Eq. (3) for ethanol exhibits a broad maximum with pressure, rising from 0.5 MW/m2 at 1 bar to $1.2 MW/m2 at $24 bar, and then gradually falling o to 0.7 MW/m2 at $50 bar (the critical pressure of ethanol is 63.8 bar), and this was borne out by the data as well (within 15%). As noted in Part I, the Kutateladze constant was obtained theoretically by Zuber [6,7], and the idea of burnout limited solely by external (to the heater) hydrodynamics was pursued most prominently by the extensive works of Lienhard, Dhir and their co-workers [8,9], as well as by Katto and his co-workers [10,11]. The renditions (and interpretations) varied widely in their specics, as well as degree of specicity, but the result, being the same, became entrenched at least as an upper limit both quantitatively as well as conceptually [12]. But there have also been objections in principle to the various specic hydrodynamic models (Zuber, Katto), as well as detracting experimental evidences. One of these is well established and concerns the decrease of CHF on poorly wetted heaters (see Fig. 3 of Part I), as found by Costello and Frea [13] almost contemporaneously to the works of Kutateladze and Zuber. This does not violate the limit, and therefore is not directly detracting; it does provide, however, a prelude of the diculty by the need to introduce a regime transition that is sharp and not understood. The other two kinds of detraction are directly challenging to the limit, but, supported by scant and/or uncertain data, their inuence has remained largely isolated. One of these pertains to the ability of Eq. (1) to cope with subatmospheric ambient pressures and the other with devia-

tions from the predicted trend under fractional and microgravities. Extensive work on the subatmospheric boiling was performed in Russia [1418]. Labulsov et al. reported CHF of water and ethanol boiling on a disk heater of 32 mm in diameter [16]. Samokhin and Yagov obtained CHF in boiling of organic liquids on a larger disk (64 mm in diameter) [18]. Avksentyuk and Mesrakesshvili performed subatmospheric boiling experiments with benzen and water [17]. All these data show a trend of CHF deviating from predictions of the Kutateladze correlation with the decreasing pressure. In experiments with water, this dierence becomes as much as 34 times as the ambient pressure is decreased below 6 kPa [19]. The subatmospheric experimental data should however be treated with caution with respect to the applicability of the KutateladzeZuber theory to their conditions. The eect of gravitational acceleration is important for space applications and has been investigated more broadly. Straub et al. performed boiling experiments in parabolic aircraft ights using a rectangular plate of 40 20 mm both in horizontal and vertical orientations [20]. They noted that at reduced gravity observed reductions in CHF are slower than the 1 4-power prediction by KutateladzeZuber equation, Eq. (3). More recent results from experiments conducted in parabolic aircraft ights yielded a CHF reduction by 60%, as compared to the approximately 94% predicted by the Kutateladze Zuber equation for the 105 g in these experiments [21]. In a follow-on work, Oka et al. reported that for 105 g, CHF in water is more than 50% of that at normal gravity [22]. These results are challenged by other CHF data obtained by Shatto and Peterson [23], also in parabolic ights, using a cylindrical cartridge heater (9.4 mm in diameter) immersed in water. Specically, at reduced pressures and microgravity (0.0005g to 0.044g)

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they obtained CHF smaller than the KutateladzeZuber predictions. The authors [23] concluded that even for gravity as low as 103 g boiling crisis is governed by the TaylorHelmholz instability mechanism on vapor jet emanating from the heaters surface. However intuitively appealing as the hydrodynamiclimit idea may be, quantitatively it turns out to be very puzzling. Take for example water boiling at atmospheric pressure. From Eq. (1) we have Ucr $ 0:9 m/s, so that qcr $ 1:2 MW/m2 , and with q =qv $ 1600, the needed liquid supply is found to be only $0.6 mm/s. This means that in order to interfere with such a minuscule rate of supply, the vapor, in counterow, has to lift essentially all the liquid up against gravity to the point of barely allowing it to touch the heater surface. A condition known as ooding, this would require more than an order of magnitude greater velocities (and heat uxes). That this is so can be seen readily from Kutateladzes own ooding criterion, Ku 3:2 [24], and also from balancing the drag force on a capillary drop (d $ d) suspended against gravity. This being as straightforward as it is basic, the other puzzle is: How could it have gone unattended for so long? Could it be that the eect of this limitation is indirect? That is, could it be that this apparent break of stability in external (macro) hydrodynamics triggers an inner sequence of events that lead to dryouts? But then for Eq. (1) to still work, this inner sequence must be universal; that is, it should not introduce any other parameters. Or, could it be that Eq. (1) is simply a reduced form (note the absence of viscosity) of some inner (micro)hydrodynamics problem that denes the onset of dryout in the limit of very well-wetting conditions? Or, nally, could it be that (macro)hydrodynamics control is so far out (as our estimates above indicate), that burnout is always controlled by heater-surface properties, and that experimentally observed burnouts have been fortuitously connected to such a limit? With the results of our BETA experiment, we can now begin to develop denitive answers to these questions. The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we begin with the overall behavior as manifest by the CHFs measured. The principal parameter is heater-surface aging, which, as discussed in Part I, is a feature not captured by static or receding contact angle measurements. A key point is that at each burnout condition we now also have the nucleation pattern, and hence the nucleation site density. We nd these to exhibit a strong positive correlation, and this is discussed relative to current models and beliefs on the matter. The discussion in Section 2 also includes all relevant previous work on integral CHF measurements, as well as what is available on the CHF behavior of very thin heaters. Our next step, in Section 3, is to delve into the details of inception and growth of the dryout spots, as eventually they become responsible for burnout. We identify reversible and ir-

reversible dry spots and provide quantitative measures of their temporal and spatial characteristics. Although previous information on such matters is essentially nonexistent, our discussion includes previous noteworthy attempts as pertinent for perspective and credit. A complementary view of, and context for the so-characterized dryout behaviors is provided in Section 4. Aided by X-ray radiography, we are able to translate the thermometric records into the detailed ow regime, and the revelation of a scale separation phenomenon as a general organizing principle of saturated high-ux boiling. On this bases, we then proceed to dene the key physics of burnout. Examined in this light we nd all previously postulated thermal (heater)-control models to be inappropriate. The focus achieved by this denition of key physics is suggestive of the kind of theoretical work needed for further development of understanding, and of the kinds of experiments that could best contribute to such eorts. We close with a succinct listing on the major conclusions in Section 5.

2. Critical heat ux A total of 25 burnouts tests were conducted with BETA heaters (see Part I) as summarized in Table 1. The table also includes three representative burnout events (C1, C2, and C3) obtained with a thick copper heater tted in the BETA test vessel. From the table we can see that the BETA heaters ranged in thickness from 140 to 1000 nm, which, as expected, had no particular inuence. We also varied the water quality and mode of power delivery with apparently no strong direct eects. On the other hand, a major variability was introduced by heater aging, which, as explained in Part I, entailed no signicant change in static or receding contact angles, nor in the macroscopic appearance of the heater surface (mirror shine). A further variability was introduced by extended exposure to boiling, and the attendant cumulation of microscopic impurities (thereby observing an indirect inuence of water quality) as revealed by SEM and AFM imaging (see Part I). Such heaters were classied as heavily aged. Arranged in ascending order as in Fig. 1, these results indicate an essentially continuous variation over a wide range of burnout performance, from $50% to $140% of the hydrodynamic limit, and this leads to two important questions. One, having decisively violated the quantitative KutateladzeZuber limit, now we must ask whether there is any role left for the external hydrodynamics. In particular, could it be that a limit still exists but it is simply at a higher heat ux level? Two, viewed coherently as a single regime of heater-surface control, is it reasonable to expect that the observed variation could be related to measurable liquid/surface properties and related mechanisms. We take up these

796 Table 1 BETA burnout experiments Experiment F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 C1 C2 C3a

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Heater thickness (nm) 1000 450 270 500 500 500 1000 1000 140 140 140 140 500 300 270 500 270 270 500 450 500 270 140 140 140 Copper block Copper block Copper block

Heater aging Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh Aged Aged Heavily Heavily Aged Heavily Heavily Aged Aged Aged Aged Aged Aged

Water quality HPLC HPLC DI HPLC HPLC HPLC HPLC HPLC DI DI DI DI HPLC HPLC HPLC HPLC DI DI HPLC HPLC HPLC DI DI DI DI HPLC HPLC HPLC

Power supply DC, SS DC, SS DC, SS DC, SS DC, T DC, T DC, SS DC, SS AC/60 Hz, AC/60 Hz, AC/60 Hz, AC/30 Hz,

CHF (kW/m2 ) 925 950 850 800 700 950 720 750 670 620 600 750 1200 1220 1517 1530 1156 1380 1610 1020 1000 938 1159 1062 1185 1640 1710 1630

qcr =qKZ 0.77 0.79 0.71 0.67 0.58 0.79 0.60 0.63 0.56 0.52 0.50 0.63 1.00 1.02 1.26 1.28 0.96 1.15 1.34 0.85 0.83 0.78 0.97 0.88 0.99 1.37 1.43 1.36

sin sin sin square

aged aged aged aged

DC, SS DC, T DC, SS DC, SS DC, SS DC, SS DC, T DC, SS DC, SS DC, SS AC/60 Hz, sin AC/60 Hz, sin AC/1000 Hz, square DC, SS DC, SS DC, SS

Heavily aged Heavily aged Heavily aged

qKZ 1200 kW/m2 ; AC: alternating current; DC: direct current; SS: Steady State; T: Transient; HPLC: high-purity water used in liquid chromatography; DI: de-ionized, clean water. a In C3, the test section subdivided into eight, 10 10 mm cells.

Fig. 1. Results of the BETA experiment: (}) nanolm heaters; (N) thick copper heater with surface modication as noted; (j) thick copper heater with test section volume subdivided into eight, 10 10 mm cells. As shown both extremes are highly reproducible. qKZ 1200 MW/m2 . Results of the three AC tests (F9, F10 and F11) are not shown.

questions in detail in the next two sections. In the remainder of this section, we can prepare the way by pointing to an immediate resultthe strong correlation of CHFs measured to nucleation site densities. In addition, this is a good place to discuss other relevant work, on integral burnout performance, including the previously identied (special) eect of heater thermal capacity. From all tests for which we have IR records at, or very near burnout, we could extract nucleation side densities, as discussed in Part I, and the results are shown in Fig. 2. Despite the considerable scatter, a strong positive correlation is evident. This contradicts the models of Kolev [25] and Ha and No [26], which, based on the Wang and Dhir [27] data on nucleation site density, predict instead a strongly negative correlation. There are two possible ways to interpret this experimentally found correlation. One, implying an indirect eect, we could think that what makes the surface resistant to burnout makes it also more amenable to nucleation. Two, supposing a direct eect, we can think of

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Fig. 2. Relation between CHF and nucleation site density measured just prior to burnout.

increasing nucleation with attendant smaller in size nucleation-aected heater areas, and thus an easier resupply of the microlayer in the most vulnerable central region (see also Sections 3 and 4). In any case, the observed behavior is inconsistent with a repulsion or other external hydrodynamics control idea, as in our uniform-ux experiments this (vapor ow) repulsion does not depend on nucleation site density (see also Section 4). 2.1. Discussion Previous experiments on pool boiling crisis were conducted on both horizontal and vertical surfaces, using heaters of various sizes and shapes (plates, strips, discs, cylinders, spheres, and wires)see, for example, the reviews of Katto [28,29]. There is almost no attention paid to the eect of these features on the ow regimes, and with just a few exceptions to be noted below, nor to the applicability of the KutateladzeZuber result. This has generated confusion not only on the experimental validation of the hydrodynamic theory, but also, it led to erroneous interpretations of ow structures, and thus to inappropriate models. Clarications of these matters is necessary if we are to decisively address the mechanism of burnout in light of all experimental evidence, including the present as well as all previous relevant work. The commonality of the Kutateladze and Zuber ideas, expressing the external hydrodynamics control, boils down to scaling a critical vapor velocity in terms of the relevant uid propertiesdensities and surface tensionand the body force eld. There is no external length scale, and this implies a limitation to horizontal innite at plates. For both there is an internal length scale, the capillary length, and this provides an approximate measure of the dimensions above which the

plate can be considered innitesay of the order of 10 capillary lengths. For water at 1 atmosphere, this means a length scale of $25 mm. But there are also some basic dierences in the two ways of thinking that have to be kept in mind in addressing issues of geometry, satisfying respectively self-similarity. Zubers postulated RayleighTaylor controlled counter-current ow is macroscopic, and it is easy to see that self-similarity for it requires strict absence of external length scales able to introduce departures from (on the average) one-dimensional (1D) behavior [6]. In turn, this requires that the liquid pool contains no bypass regions (its cross-section is fully coincident with the heaters cross-section), and that it is of small aspect ratio (height divided by the smallest lateral dimension). Costello et al. [30] understood all these requirements and their experiments (conforming to them) with a 50 150 mm2 heater yielded a CHF of 1.1 MW/m2 , almost in exact agreement with Eq. (3). Also, Lienhard and Dhir understood this, as they pursued small length and othershape aects within the hydrodynamic context [8,9]. On the other hand, Gaertners [31] experiment conducted with a 5 cm in diameter disc placed at the bottom of a deep (20 cm) and wide (14 cm) liquid pool fails to meet these requirements. Yet, the observed ow regime, a periodic formation, hovering, and departure of a vapor mushroom bubble, which is a direct consequence of the particular, recirculation inducing, pool geometry, had a prevailing inuence, both in re-deriving the general KutateladzeZuber result [28], as well as in inspiring several heater-surface-centered (thermal) models [11,32,33]. Further, these models make use of a microjetpierced liquid macrolayer at the base of the mushroom bubble, presumably seen by Gaertner, but evident nowhere in his paper. Gaertner [31] measured CHFs of up to 1.55 MW/m2 (135% of the KutateladzeZuber value) and he took this to be supportive of the hydrodynamic limit. Kutateladzes idea of repulsion is more vaguely stated, and thus it allows a somewhat greater exibility in satisfying self-similarity. It appears that he is focused in a boundary layer, right next to the heater surface, and he thinks of a hydrodynamic transition occurring within this layer. Following his experiments with Gogonin [5], they assert that a width of even 2 capillary lengths ($2 mm in their ethanol experiments) is sucient to eliminate the eect of an external length scale. Their water pool was deep ($15 cm) and much wider than their heater (10 cm). These experiments yielded the Ku 0:145 result (as in Eq. (3)). Excellent agreement with Eq. (3) was also reported by Kutateladze and Malenkov in later water boiling experiments [34]. Unfortunately, no mention of the ow regimes observed was made in these papers, but Kutateladze had no doubt that the twophase ow above the heater was dispersed and highly chaotic (i.e., he disagreed with Zubers picture of a

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relatively regular array of vapor jets). What remains unclear is the extent of interplay between the external hydrodynamics and the transition within the boundary layer that was the focus of Kutateladzes interest. In this interpretation both Gaertners and Kutateladzes own experiments are open to question of such external inuences. Remarkably, all other previous experiments are even further removed from these self-similarity requirements. As indicated in Table 1 (and Fig. 1) the highest CHF level reached in this work, 1.61.7 MW/m2 , was both on nanolm as well as on thick copper heaters. This is remarkable from a couple of dierent standpoints and needs further elaboration. First is the eect(s) of heater-surface properties already mentioned. Previous knowledge is based mainly on the work of Hahne and Diesselhorst [35] and of Liaw and Dhir [36], who expressed this eect in terms of surface wettability, as measured by the static contact angle. The latter conducted transition boiling experiments with water and freon-113 on copper heaters, 63 103 mm2 , placed vertically in a pool of liquid being boiled. Freon wets the copper surface well. For water contact angles obtained were in the range 18107. At 18, the peak heat ux measured was near (97%) the hydrodynamic limit, while for higher contact angles the decreasing trend was as illustrated in Fig. 3 of Part I. This is to be compared with Fig. 1; all nanolm heater data being at the same static contact angle of $65. Moreover, the highest level reached with such heaters appears to coincide with the CHFs measured on the thick copper heater whose surface was treated (as described in Part I) to a highly smooth and wetting nisha contact angle of under 15. Second is the eect of heater heat capacity. Previous knowledge is based mainly on the work of Bergles and co-workers [37,38], who following sporadic work such as that of Tachibana et al. [39], Guglielmini and Nannei [40], expressed the eect in terms of the quantity D $ dw kw qw Cp;w 1=2 , where the wall (heater) thickness dw , is combined with the quantity containing the wall thermal properties (conductivity kw , density qw , and heat capacity Cp;w ). They experimented with horizontally suspended, vertically positioned, ribbon heaters (5 mm height by 50 mm length) of various thicknesses, down to 10 lm, and constitution (copper, steel, molybdenum, etc.). Carvalho and Bergles [37] correlated the data, including other data with both plates and cylinders, independently of orientation (vertical, horizontal), and the result is a gradual diminishing of CHF from the hydrodynamic-limit value for D $ 10, down to $10% for D $ 5 103 . The D for our nanolm heaters is 103 , or 0.24 if based on the glass substrate thickness and properties, and according to the correlation, our CHFs should be limited to $50% and below 10% of the hydrodynamic limit respectively. Instead, our data show an exceedence to 140%.

3. Characterization of burnout In Part I (Section 4.3) we identied hot spots that appear within bubble bases as dry spots. Typically, a dry spot temperature reaches a maximum, and then it drops during an apparent rewetting event. We call these reversible dry spots. At higher heat uxes, the number of such dry spots increases and so does their lifetime span. Ultimately, when the CHF level is reached, one or more of these dry spots take o in a thermal runaway, growing in size, that quickly lead to heater failurethe burnout. These are our irreversible dry spots. Clearly, it is this transition from reversible to irreversible dry spots that contains a major portion of the key physics, and hence the quantitative denition of the burnout process. This is the subject of this section. The remainder of the key physics is concerned with the hydrodynamic context in which these dry spot dynamics take place, that is, the mode of interaction with the external (to the microlayer) hydrodynamics, and this is the subject of the next section. We begin with an overview of previous relevant work found in the literature. The essentially impossible task of directly observing dry areas by photographic means was pursued early on by several well-known investigators [10,31,41,42]. While nothing concrete could be documented, interpretations of such visualizations have remained inuential (to this day) in the conceptual perception and modelling of the dryout phenomenon. In particular, this includes a periodic mushroom bubble, fed by a steady, dense microjet system on a liquid macrolayer at its base [11,32]a regime which is negated by the ndings of the present work. Instrumentation for direct detection of dry areas was introduced by Van Ouwerkerk [43]. The heater was a transparent, vapor-deposited gold lm, on a glass substrate, and dry areas could be distinguished from wet ones on the basis of total reection of (white) light shown in from below. Experiments were conducted with n-heptane, on a 90 90 mm2 heater, within an apparently two-dimentional (2D) test section geometry (200 200 mm2 ). He reported observations of dry areas formed beneath bubbles. At the atmospheric pressure, burnout was found to occur at heat ux of 195 kW/ m2 that is $75% of the KutateladzeZuber prediction (253 kW/m2 ) for n-heptane. This result is consistent with CHF obtained in BETA experiments on fresh nanolm heaters. Van Ouwerkerk argued that dryout occurs when a dry area is larger than a critical size. Apparently unaware of Van Ouwerkerks work Nishio et al. [44] resurrected the total reection technique some 25 years later. For a substrate they used a single sapphire crystal, 5 mm thick, and a transparent electro-conductive lm as the heater. The uid boiled was a refrigerant, R113. They used a high-speed video camera to image a heater area of 9 12 mm2 from

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below through a silicon oil bath. Information about the heaters surface characteristics and wettability by R113 is not given in the paper [44]. At low heat uxes, round dry areas were found in the bubble bases. As heat ux increases, the primary dry areas coalesce and cover 40% of the heater surface. Near CHF the wetted area was found to exist as a network of wriggling continuous canals of liquid. This behavior was not borne out by the infrared thermometry results in BETA. 3.1. General observations of burnout in BETA In running a test to burnout in BETA, we can observe the complete heater thermal response in real time, and as noted above, we have a qualitative warning of an impending crisis by the number and lifetimes of the reversible dry spots. Still, a crisis event occurs catastrophically in a time frame of less than a second, and initially it proved dicult to capture by manually trigrd of the camera, which at 1000 gering the reco frames/s allowed only 1 s of record time. Perhaps more rd trigger precluded capimportantly, this forward-reco turing the all-too-important sequence of events leading up to burnout. The situation was remedied by developing back-trigger capability for our IR camera, and expanding data transfer and storage to allow a total of 4000 full frames (4 s at 1000 frames/s). A total of four runs, the F1, F2, A1, and A2 have been recorded in this fashion so far, and these are the data discussed in this section. We begin with overall qualitative observations on representative thermometric images, shown in Figs. 36 for these four burnouts, respectively. In these gures, superposed to the two kinds of nucleation patterns (for fresh and aged heaters) discussed in Part I, we can see the dry areas as bright spots, that appear and disappear, or grow, and eventually merge, to the macroscopic patterns that cause failure (in the last frame of each sequence). Signicantly, the growth occurs simultaneously in more than one of the hot spots,

Fig. 4. Burnout of a fresh heater (F2) at 950 kW/m2 . Sample of nine frames of IR image from a 4 s record. To illustrate chaotic nature and variability we chose the frames not to be sequential.

Fig. 5. Burnout of an aged heater (A1) at 1200 kW/m2 .

Fig. 3. Burnout of a fresh heater (F1) at 925 kW/m2 .

and this is most evident in Fig. 3. On the other hand, as seen in Fig. 4 (fourth frame) an initial attempt of as many as ve spots to grow and merge is forestalled by

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Fig. 6. Burnout of an aged heater (A2) at 1220 kW/m2 .

submillimeter stem bases). Further they nd that thin, poorly conducting heaters should be very susceptible to burnout. In addition to being open to the same criticism as are its base models, this heater conductivity eect is utterly in conict with the BETA experiments where CHF as high as 1.6 MW/m2 were found. It should be noted that both the DhirLiaw and Unal et al. approaches to explaining the crisis were apparently based on visual observations made by Gaertner [31]; however, none of these features can be found documented in his paper. From our own experience, even under conditions of much lower nucleation density, visualizations such as those reported by Gaertner are not possible. 3.2. Quantitative features of reversible dry spots

an apparent rewetting event that lent way to a normal nucleation pattern in subsequent frames. The same is also seen in the second frame of Fig. 6, although in this case, one of the hot spots appears to have survived. In general, the nal transition to unstable behavior in aged heaters appears more abrupt and from a much smaller population (site density) of reversible dry spots, as compared to fresh heaters. While this is consistent with the dierence in respective power levels, it is such quantitative behavior that can provide the clues for, and testing of ideas as to the mechanism of incipient instability. An initial sampling of the quantitative features available in such thermometric records is provided further below. Based on the qualitative information just presented a number of important conclusions regarding previous models of dryout-induced crisis can be reached immediately. Specically, this refers to the vapor-stem model of Dhir and Liaw [32], and the hot-spot model of Unal et al. [33]. The former envisions a static pattern of steam microjets, extending from their base, and a respective dry patch on the heater wall, through a macrolayera liquid lm of a few hundred microns in thickness. According to this model the approach to CHF is accompanied by an increase in population of these small ($500 lm) dry patches, and crisis occurs when they are found to be so dense as to merge at their bases. This turns out at a dry patch occupancy of around 50%. Surface wettability is taken into account by the contact angle at the base of the jet in combination with its eect on nucleation site density. None of these features are conrmed by the BETA experiments. The Unal et al. [33] idea of dryout, on the other hand, hypothesizes that boiling crisis involves heater surface superheating to the Leidenfrost temperature, and took radial conduction in the heaters body as a principal mechanism modulating the approach to criticality. In implementation they superposed this to a combination of the DhirLiaw [32] and HaramuraKatto [11] models. For thick copper heaters they nd that crisis requires the formation of dry patches as large as 5 cm in diameter (compare this to Dhirs

As noted already, dry spots develop always at the center of bubble-cooled areas. Two kinds of behavior could be identied. One pertains to newly formed bubbles at a highly superheated region of the wall (and adjacent liquid)a situation that is mostly relevant to fresh heaters. The other pertains to bubbles emanating continuously from xed nucleation sites, thus maintaining a relatively low superheat that uctuates regularly in timea situation found both on aged as well as on fresh heaters. In Part I, we called this irregular and regular bubbles respectively. In Section 4.3 of Part I, we also elaborated on how we detect the initial formation of dry spots, as they evolve through coolingheating cycles in the middle of (some of the) bubble-cooled areas. Here, we would like to provide sample data on the heatingcooling cycles and the sizes that characterize the reversible dry spots themselves. As discussed in Part I, an appropriate demarcation of dry state on a BETA heater is an IR temperature measurement in excess of $170 C, and this is the criterion utilized in the data reductions below. Also, we should be reminded at this point that temperatures above $200 C are only indicative, because they involve extrapolation of the calibration curve used for all runs reported here. A typical appearance and disappearance of a reversible dry spot at 800 kW/m2 (from the F1 series of tests) is shown in Fig. 7. In the same gure we can also see the digitized temperature transient at the center of the hot spot. From records such as this, one can deduce the relevant length and time scalesin this case mm and hundreds of ms respectively. A most remarkable feature in this case is that the temperature at the center keeps on increasing, while the size of the hot spot seems to shrink (between 50 and 150 ms). In still greater detail, we can extract 2D digital records such as the one shown in Fig. 8. This case too is from a reversible dry spot that appeared at a heat ux, very close (within 50 kW/m2 ) to the one that caused burnout of this heater. Again, we can see similar length and time scales, but in addition, we now also have a quantitative depiction of the tre-

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Fig. 7. Illustration of the dynamics of a reversible dryspot on a fresh heater (F1), at 800 kW/m2 . The gures show an area of 6 mm 6 mm of the heater. The temperature scales are shown to the right of each image. The temperature transient shown on the extreme right is for the center spot of the images pictured, including intermediate frames not shown on the left.

Fig. 8. Evolution of the temperature eld around a nucleation site that becomes the origin of a dry spot in test F2.

mendously steep temperature gradients (6000 K/mm) in the region between the hot spot and the surrounding cool area. Even with our extremely thin and poorly conducting heater-substrate assembly, at such temperature gradients, conduction cannot be completely neglected, and a signicant amount of additional work (in data analysis) is needed in order to extract all that is

possible from such a detailed diagnostics. Remarkable in this gure is the prole at 134 msit shows simultaneous heatup (and dryout) at the center, and cooling in a surrounding (ring) area (a contact line moving outwards). Reversible dry spots are of immense interest, because it is through them that the burnout runaway, that is the irreversible dry spots, arise. Thus, we are especially interested in reversible dry spot behavior very near and during burnout, and this will be the focus of the rest of our discussion in this subsection. Typically, we found reversible dry spots to grow to a size of 14 mm, the larger sizes favored by fresh heaters and irregular bubbles. Corresponding lifetimes were found to range from 60 to 600 ms. Representative data are summarized in Fig. 9. Note that the character, in this respect, of every heater is starkly dierent. Of these four runs, it appears that F2 found itself at a nal power level that was particularly close to the transition to unstable behavior, and thus it provided, by comparison to the other runs, a much wider action, and thus data, on reversible dry spots (see Fig. 4). As we can see in Fig. 9, these data show that sizes and lifetimes are correlated in a manner that can be understood intuitivelythe bigger spots live longer. On the other hand, the scatter observed, especially for the smallest spots, can be understood by recognizing the signicant role of radial

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Fig. 9. Relation between size of reversible dry spots and their lifetime span.

Fig. 11. Growth and collapse of three reversible Type 2 dry spots in test F2.

conduction in dissipating a portion of the thermal energy generated within the dry area. For example, for a well-supplied (evaporating) meniscus around a 0.7 mm in diameter dry spot, a heat ux of up to 1 MW/m2 can be dissipated before the center exceeds 250 C. A further detail of behavior is available by looking at the growthcollapse dynamics of the dry spots, as illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11. In these gures, the time and dry spot diameter have been normalized by the max lifetime (ttotal ) and maximum diameter (dds ) of each dry spot respectively. Two kinds of behavior have been discerned. One (let us say Type 1) as depicted in Fig. 10, involves a very rapid growth to the maximum size, within a time frame of $1=10th of the lifetime, and then a gradual, pretty monotonic collapse. The other (Type

2), shown in Fig. 11, exhibits a hesitant or interruptive growth, through a complex series of steps, over a time frame that can extend up to $1=2 of the lifetime, and then a gradual collapse, the tail end of which (last $40%) appears to be quite more precipitous in comparison to the collapses seen in Fig. 10. Still another, complementary perspective can be obtained from Fig. 12, showing the fractional growth time (tgrow =ttotal ) of the dry spots analyzed against their maximum diameter. We can see that Type 1 and Type 2 dry spots are distinguished by their large and small sizes respectively. This method of presentationdry spot diameter normalized by the mean distance between nucleation sites, p lns $ 1=N 3:45 mm in this runalso shows that the size of dry spots is some fraction of this mean distance, while being bounded by it from above. Along these lines

Fig. 10. Growth and collapse of three reversible Type 1 dry spots in test F2.

Fig. 12. Fractional expansion time versus maximum dry spot size normalized by lns 3:45 mm (Test F2).

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rate quite close to that estimated for adiabatic conditions. Each of these is taken up in turn in the following. The evolution of the dry area (in the four runs being discussed) with time is shown in Figs. 15 and 16, for the fresh and aged heaters respectively. As noted above, for these four runs, we have sucient record time to follow the reversible dry spots as well, over the time frame of seconds prior to burnout. We can see that the reversible dry spot areas uctuate at rather low levels ($10 mm2 or $1% of the heater area), and that the growth associated with the onset of instability is quite catastrophic. Failure occurs at a dry area fraction of $10%. As noted above, all indications are that power in run F2 was the closest to the true critical power, and as a manifestation of this

Fig. 13. Relation between the maximum size of reversible dry spots and a characteristic distance (lns ) between neighboring active sites (see text). The bounding line indicates the maximum possible size of the dry spot being constrained by the neighboring bubble-cooled areas.

and in more local detail, we show in Fig. 13 the maximum size of dry spots in relation to the mean distance from neighboring nucleation sites, specic to each spot (lns ). Now, we have an even more clear hint that the growth of dry spots is interfered with by the neighboring, bubble-cooled areas. 3.3. Irreversible dry spots A typical irreversible dry spot is shown in Fig. 14. Key ingredients of the behavior are a growth velocity scale of millimeters per second, a short/fast cooling event just prior to the thermal runaway, and a heatup

Fig. 15. Evolution of dry areas as burnout is reached in Tests F1 and F2.

Fig. 14. Illustration of the dynamics a dryspot in the process of burning out. The gures show an area of 6 mm 6 mm of the heater. The dryspot propagation speed is $5 mm/s for the rst 200 ms and slows down to $1.5 mm/s in the later stage. The graph in the right shows the temperature transient for the initial heatup phase of the dryspot when contribution of the radial conduction is not negligible. The dashed line indicates the adiabatic heatup rate.

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Fig. 16. Evolution of dry areas as burnout is reached in Tests A1 and A2.

Fig. 18. Temperature at the location of a dry spot origin. Test F2 at 950 kW/m2 .

we see again here the greatly expanded reversible dry spot activity on a time scale of seconds. On the short cooling transient that seems to always precede dryout, additionally to Fig. 14, we provide Fig. 17, pertaining to an irregular bubble, and Figs. 18 and 19, which are regular bubbles on a fresh and aged heater, respectively. In Fig. 17, the plateau of $150 C indicates a highly superheated liquid layer immediately in contact with the heater. This is the kind of space seen in between bubble-cooled areas in images such as those of Figs. 3 and 4. Referring to Fig. 17, the rapid cooldown at $120 ms corresponds to a nucleation event seen by the appearance and growth of a bubble-cooled area (24 mm in diameter) in the IR image. This cooldown (of the center) is interrupted sharply, within a matter of a few milliseconds, to yield a rapid, nearly adiabatic

Fig. 19. Temperature at the location of a dry spot origin. Test A1 at 1200 kW/m2 .

Fig. 17. Temperature at the location of dry spot origin. Test F2 at q 950 kW/m2 .

heatup, a behavior quite similar to that already seen for an irreversible dry spot in run F1 (Fig. 14). Such a turnaround from a cooldown, to a monotonic heatup, is also evident in Figs. 18 and 19, although now in a milder form, as appropriate to the lower superheats seen under regular bubbles. In more detail, in Fig. 18, we see a couple of previous attempts to run away, at $5 and 60 ms, but these were interrupted shortly by rewetting events. Another manifestation of complexity is the more elaborate interplay between heatup and attempted rewets, as illustrated in Fig. 20. From the complete images we could see in this case dry spot dynamics to be aected by nearby nucleation events. This dry spot too eventually becomes completely unstable and is on its way to burnout.

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Fig. 20. Temperature at the location of a dry spot origin. Test F2 at 950 kW/m2 .

Remarkably, in none of the irreversible dry spots observed did the heatup rate quite match that calculated for an adiabatic condition, as one would expect for a large (D > 2 mm) dry spot. For example, while the initial heatup rate in Fig. 14 ($1400 K/s) is consistent with an energy balance that accounts for radial conduction through the glass substrate as the only loss mechanism, later on it is seen to fall o (rather than approach) the adiabatic heatup rate also shown in the gure ($2400 K/ s). Similarly, the heatup rates in Figs. 1719, 2500, 1750 and 2233 K/s respectively, are lower than the adiabatic values of 3166, 3166 and 4000 K/s. We have tried to be meticulous about the thermophysical properties of the glass utilized in these calculations, but the values used for heat capacity could not be positively conrmed. Similarly, we took extra pains to conrm the thermal power delivered to our heater under both wet and dry conditions, also taking into account the resistivity variation with temperature (see Part I). On the other hand, we note that all thermal runaways show a smooth monotonic increase, unlike the uctuating behavior due to losses to the uid above seen in all other situations preceding the thermal runaway (see Figs. 1719). A number of possible, but exotic mechanisms for losses beyond lm boiling come to mind, so this matter deserves further investigation. In conclusion, these direct observations of the burnout process in BETA suggest that dryout is a sharply dened critical phenomenon, with highly localized, but not singularly so, incipience, and very rapid (runaway) character. One key context of this incipience is a highly dynamic appearance and collapse of (reversible) dry spots, which are highly localized too, aecting less than 1% of the area. The other context is the microlayers that feed the so-formed contact lines (microhydrodynamics), and the interaction of these microlayers with the exter-

nal hydrodynamicsthe two-phase counter-current ow on top of the heater. This is the subject of the next section. Views of burnout that are generally consistent with the critical character of the phenomena identied/ quantied above, have been previously postulated by Reyes and Wayner [45] and Seane et al. [46]. Reyes and Wayner looked at the forces around a static contact line, and tried to relate the onset of instability to a critical temperature. The BETA experiments show that burnout on a heater may be initiated in the bubble bases with local surface superheats varying from 20 to 60 K. This contradicts the ReyesWayner concept that relates burnout to a heater-surface-average critical superheat ($30 K for water). Seane and co-workers, on the other hand, again focused on the stability of contact lines, assigned a principal role on the vapor recoil as a destabilizing mechanism as rst introduced in the work of Palmer [47] for liquid evaporation at reduced pressure. Application of this mechanism to boiling crisis has however been only discussed in qualitative terms. It is interesting to note that for conditions of interest (water, atmospheric pressure) the recoil pressure [DP q= Hlg 2 =qv ], being the driving force for the recoil instability, is about 0.25 Pa, while the stabilizing force due to surface tension ($r=d) on a thin layer (d) is several order of magnitudes larger.

4. Flow regimes At a heat ux of 1 MW/m2 the supercial vapor velocity is $1 m/s and the ow is well past the point where a bubbly regime can be sustained. According to Kutateladze [24], this kind of transition occurs at r qv Ku 0:3 4 $ 102 q that is, at a heat ux of $100 kW/m2 . At such relatively high velocities then, the vapor ow is accommodated by expanding the two-phase region suciently to allow an increasing amount of disengagement from the liquid in the pool. In a 1D geometry this occurs by the coalescence into larger bubbles, and ultimately by the formation of temporary vapor channels, that impart a churning or chugging quality to it. In this regime, typically the void fractions reach, on a time-averaged basis, to above $40%, and vary slowly with vapor ow. The characteristic scales of such a ow pattern are much greater than that of the capillary length, and the detailed behavior now depends very much on the geometry and dimensions of the ow domain. However, the key character of the ow is churning, in any case, over a range of vapor velocities up to an order of magnitude greater (see Section 1), and this we believe we captured

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in our BETA test section, by operating with low aspect ratio (height to the smaller lateral dimension) liquid pools. As illustrated in Figs. 21 and 22, the above-described basic considerations are fully borne out by the behaviors found in BETA. Note, in particular, the large internal scales, and the chaotic character of the liquidvapor distribution revealed by the radiographs. Also note that the void fraction averaged over the main portion of the pool is $40%, as expected. The underlying churning was also recorded in the high-speed videos, and it was quite evident too in visual observations. While some dynamics-induced dispersal to liquid droplets could be seen at the top, as evidenced by the radiographs too, even at the highest ux levels reached the amount of carryover was negligible. More specically now, as we can see in these radiography, the bottom of the pool, adjacent and all across the heater, is occupied by a very high void fraction regionlike a vapor blanket. In Fig. 21, we see that within 1 mm of the heater surface the cross-sectionalaverage void fraction reaches $8090%. This indicates a

Fig. 22. Radiographic image of the void fraction distribution at 1100 and 1200 kW/m2 on an aged heater (A7). On the right are void fraction scales.

most remarkable separation of the external (macro)hydrodynamics from the heater, which to remain cooled, as evidenced by the IR images in Figs. 36, must be continuously covered by liquid. Thus, we can envision a continuous liquid supplynote that the blanket is not

Fig. 21. Radiographic image of the boiling liquid pool at 1000 kW/m2 on an aged nanolm heater (A7). On the right is the void fraction scale. The straight black line at the bottom is the image of the heater/glass assembly. The graphs show the deduced cross-sectional-average void fraction as a function of distance from the heater.

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100% vaporand an attendant action at the microhydrodynamic level, as this liquid spreads upon an extended microlayer, while nucleation events within it participate in the spreading process, expelling any excess to the region above. That this separation is organic is further evidenced by contrasting the chaotic macrohydrodynamics above, to the order, uniformity, and regularity of the microhydrodynamics on the heater, as seen in the IR moviesand only partly evident in the selected frames shown in Figs. 36. We can thus refer to a scales separation phenomenon, in high heat ux, saturated pool boiling. One implication is that the heater and the extended liquid microlayer on it operate autonomously, that is, without any signicant inuence of the external hydrodynamics. A subsequent implication is that since the presence of the liquid pool is only incidental, the burnout phenomenon can be studied in isolation by focusing on the heater-microlayer system alone. This is benecial in eliminating the obscuring (and superuous) external hydrodynamics, allowing direct visual access from above as well (Conguration B in Fig. 4 of Part I) and an even better understanding of the microhydrodynamics through control of the liquid supply.

In conjunction with the above-identied scale separation, we can now examine the IR records towards understanding the ow regimes that govern microhydrodynamics. Ignoring transient eects (the time constant of a 5 lm thick microlayer, heated on one side, vaporizing on the other, is 0.5 ms) the temperature of every pixel on the IR record can be converted to a microlayer thickness (d) by d k Tw Ts =q, where Tw and Ts are the heater and saturation temperatures respectively. Sample results for a fresh and a heavily aged heater are shown in Figs. 23 and 24 respectively. The picture is one of an extended microlayer punctuated by steep depressions (craters), where thicknesses reach down to a few microns. Sequential arrangements of frames such as these allow one to visualize the full dynamic pattern of the microhydrodynamics. The average thickness of the microlayer in an aged heater is in the range from 10 to 15 lm, while for fresh heaters this range changes to 2030 lm near-CHF conditions. The thicker lm (30 lm) corresponds to surface superheats of up to 55 K. Such a high superheat is present in the nucleation-free areas of fresh heater just prior to the dry spot formation. In the region between bubble sites, heat is removed from the heater surface to evaporating

Fig. 23. Map of microlayer thickness on a fresh heater (test F1) near burnout at q 850 kW/m2 . The thickness map presented is pixel (250 lm 250 lm)averaged and with an accuracy of 5% (relative) due to time response of the glass heater.

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Fig. 24. Map of microlayer thickness on a heavily aged heater (test A4) near burnout at q 1500 kW/m2 . The thickness map presented is pixel (250 lm 250 lm)averaged and with an accuracy of 5% (relative) due to time response of the glass heater.

interface by means of heat conduction through the liquid lm. The dynamics and stability of this liquid layer are likely to be governed by the distance between the neighboring nucleation sites. This explains the eect that nucleation patterns have on the burnout. Clearly, rupture of the liquid lm under certain conditions and subsequent dry spot spreading produces boiling crisis. What is at play here is a complex set of hydrodynamic phenomena coupled to capillarity, including: long-range forces at the nucleation at the nucleation-site-tips of the microlayer, viscous ow supplying the microlayer from the surrounding thicker regions, surface tension forces due to the curvature at the tip. All these combine with the nucleation site density which supplies an external length scale, to mediate conditions for which the supply (ow into the depression) is not large enough to make up the demand due to evaporation. Digitized records, such as those shown in Figs. 23 and 24 provide the basis for more detailed quantitative analysis, including possible corrections due to transient and lateral conduction eects, as well as for guiding and testing predictive models of the relevant processes. All in all, we have here the ngerprints of boiling, all the

way into burnout, and a scale separation phenomenon as a general organizing principle for saturated, high heat ux boiling, that allows proper focusing on the microhydrodynamics as the sole control of boiling crisis.

5. Concluding remarks This work addresses boiling heat transfera subject that despite its outstanding technological importance, and indeed a most rich uid-physics content, has remained deeply misunderstood. We focused on boiling crisis, a phenomenon that leads to burnout, that is the physical destruction of the heat-generating body, once a certain value of heat ux is exceeded. Recognizing that boiling is the most ecient mode of heat transfer, this limits to coolability question is really of profound character, both in the practical as well as the scientic contexts. In this work we have found a new way to focus the question, and this we believe creates new opportunities for rapid progress toward basic understanding, and consequently toward prediction as needed for design. This is important for balancing construction/

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operation costs of engineering equipment against reliability/safety concerns. This is important, too, for creating designer surfaces for specialized cooling demands (microelectronics, refrigeration, etc.). Finally, this is (perhaps most crucially) important in cases that prohibit trial-and-error approaches, such as needed in certain space and nuclear applications. The experimental approach developed and employed in the present work was found to be crucial for the understanding of the boiling crisis phenomenon. The rst key element of the experimental approach is the ability to see the whole patterns of heat transfer and uid ow, and to obtain quantitative information about what happens on the heater-surface prior and during the burnout. This was achieved by means of high-speed, high-resolution infrared thermometry on a nanoscale heater, and X-ray radiographic imaging of the boiling liquid volume. The other key element is the ability to control and characterize experimental conditions, through the use of high-purity water, the contamination-free test section, a protocol for heater aging, and the heaters pre- and post-test microscopic and nanoscopic examination. At high heat uxes, both reversible and irreversible dry spots were observed. The BETA experimental data indicates that the dry spot growth is constrained and guided by neighboring active nucleation sites. Furthermore, the data obtained in burnout experiments show a direct correlation between CHF and nucleation site density. Nucleation site density in turn was found to increase with the degree of heater aging. This nding indicates a potential to improve the heater performance through controlled surface oxidation and microstructuring. The BETA infrared images show an increasing order and regularity of the thermal pattern as the heat ux increases. This contrasts with an increasingly chaotic behavior of the two-phase ow dynamics above the heater as evidenced by the X-ray images of the boiling zone. Thus we can conclude that boiling heat transfer is independent of the complex two-phase ow hydrodynamics above the heater, and in particular that the previous hydrodynamic theory of boiling crisis is not appropriate. This separation of scales creates a focus of inquiry for the dynamics of microlayer sitting and vaporizing on the heater surface as an autonomous system. This in turn means that such an extended microlayer, and its rupture, can be studied in its own, by direct observation, both from above, as well as by high-speed infrared thermometry from below. We believe the same organizing principle, that is the scale separation, will be present at least under the weak convection conditions most interesting for space applications. Now, for both pool and convection boiling, the research must focus on the role of

heater-surface and liquid properties, as those alone determine coolability limit, at 1g, and we have strong reasons to believe that this is true also for fractional gravities (Moon, Mars) as well.

Acknowledgements The multifaceted, long-range approach described in this paper became possible thanks to the cooperative support through NASA grant NAG3-2119 Oce of Biological and Physical Research, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Contract NRC-04-98-051, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Contract B502686. We are grateful to Dr. T. King (NRC), Dr. J. McQuillan (NASA), and Dr. S. Dimolitsas (LLNL) for their encouragement and cooperation. We appreciate the help of Mr. M. Vanderbroek (UCSB) in vapor-depositing the nanolm heaters and Dr. A. Adams (SBFP) in technical support for the infrared camera. The authors are thankful to the technical support for this work provided by Mr. T. Salmassi and Dr. K. Gasljevic at UCSB/CRSS on the design and construction of the BETA test section, power supply, and X-ray operation. The work made use of the MRL Central Facilities supported by the National Science Foundation under award DMR96-32716.

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