The boiling process is characterized by strong nonlinear interactions between bubbles in the thermal boundary layer. The present paper uses a heat balance approach to derive the interaction length between bubbles based on boiling heat transfer mechanisms and bubble dynamics. The effects of some important parameters on the interaction length are then analyzed. Interestingly, the whole range of fluxes from low heat flux nucleate boiling to high heat flux boiling, departure from nucleate boiling (DNB), critical heat flux (CHF), and transition boiling, can be well understood by the concept of interaction length. The present paper also uses the concept of interaction length to present a unified description of DNB and CHF phenomena through a better understanding of nucleate boiling.
