To improve the closure relations employed for component-scale Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation of boiling flows, a first-principles method for predicting bubble departure diameters in flow boiling has been developed. The proposed method uses minimisation of the free energy of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium to predict the contact angle and the resistance to sliding of a vapour bubble attached to a surface in the presence of a forced liquid flow. Predictions of the new method are compared with measurements from existing experimental databases, and agreement with data is shown to be comparable or superior to that obtained with previous bubble departure models that have generally used a force-balance approach. The main advantages of the energy-based method over the previous force based methods are that its formulation is simpler, and that the new model does not require the use of ad hoc tunable parameters to define force terms, or geometrical characteristics of the attached bubble such as its base area, which cannot be confirmed experimentally. This increases confidence in the validity of the new approach when applied outside the rather limited range of current test data on bubble departure in flow boiling. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.