Simulations for More Efficient Power Stations

In most cases, electricity is produced when water is heated and transformed into vapour. Vapour bubbles in the water play a decisive role in this process by collecting in a layer at a heated wall. The denser the layer, the more efficiently the heat will be transferred to the water as soon as the bubbles detach themselves from the wall. However, it's imperative that the vapour bubbles are prevented from forming a single, unbroken layer at the wall: on the one hand, vapour itself is not a good heat conductor and on the other, this could lead to an overheating of the wall. Using computer simulation, researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute have succeeded in representing the behaviour of vapour bubbles - and in making their performance more calculable. Yohei Sato's computer screen shows a vapour bubble in far greater detail than can normally be seen by the naked eye. It shows a simulated bubble adhering to a heated wall and surrounded by water.