Thermal and film dynamics of multi-nozzle flash spray cooling towards large area and non-uniform heat source

Thermal management poses a crucial challenge to the operational reliability of high-power devices which characterized by large area and uneven heat sources. Flash spray, as one of the start-of-the-art technologies, satisfies the requirements of rapid heat removal and superior droplet breakup effects. This study aims to investigate the liquid dynamics and heat transfer characteristics of multi-nozzle flash spray on a non-uniform heat flux surface. Here, the Euler-Lagrangian method is coupled to account for the gas-droplet interactions, and the Lagrangian wall-film is applied to describe the liquid film evolution. The effects of spray height and nozzle number are systematically discussed in terms of velocity, liquid film thickness, average surface temperature, and temperature non-uniformity. Results reveal that the enhanced spray-to-spray interaction can greatly alter liquid film distribution, which in turn affects the heat transfer efficiency. Notably, while increasing spray coverage improves thermal contact area, it exhibits a non-linear relationship with temperature reduction, showing an optimal spray height and nozzle number for minimizing average temperature and temperature non-uniformity. The main contribution of present work lies in its in-depth analysis of multi-nozzle flash spray on large area and uneven heating surface, which is prevalent in industrial applications buy underexplored in prior works. These findings are expected to offer actionable guidelines for understanding complex spray cooling mechanisms and designing efficient thermal management systems.