Numerical Study of the Forced Convective Condensation on a Short Vertical Plate

Numerical investigation was conducted on the effects of gravity, surface tension, and wall adhesion upon condensation on a short vertical plate. The volume of fluid method was applied to model the interaction between the liquid and vapor phases and to capture the interface. The surface tension was implemented by employing the method of continuum surface force model. A modified phase-change model, derived from basic equations related to the kinetic gas theory, was proposed and verified based on the cases of Nusselt film condensation of water vapor on a vertical flat plate, the forced convection film condensation on a horizontal flat plate, and the capillary blocking due to condensation in a horizontal miniature circular tube. The predicted results showed that a laminar capillary wavy flow regime exists and the waves enhance the heat transfer of condensation on the plate. The mean film thickness increases and the heat transfer performance becomes worse with decrease of gravity. A high value of surface tension or contact angle, representing a large surface free energy difference, leads to an enhancement of heat transfer on the plate with large-amplitude waves.     

Effects of uniform suction and surface tension on laminar filmwise condensation on a horizontal elliptical tube in a porous medium

This study performs a theoretical investigation into the problem of steady filmwise condensation flow over the external surface of a horizontal elliptical tube embedded in a porous medium with suction at the tube surface. The combined effects of the surface tension force and the gravitational force in driving the flow of the liquid film within the porous medium are modeled using Darcy's law. An effective suction function, f, is introduced to model the effect of the suction force at the wall on the thickness of the condensate film. The theoretical results presented in this study show that the heat transfer performance can be enhanced by applying a suction effect at the wall. Furthermore, it is shown that the surface tension force has a negligible effect on the mean Nusselt number.     

The formation of rising liquid thin film on the fluted surface of a horizontal tube

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of the formation of the rising liquid thin film and its flow characteristics on the fluted surface of a horizontal tube. By analyzing the wetting behaviors of the fluted tube, which was primarily responsible for the formation of the rising liquid thin film, a numerical model of one‐phase fluid was established to analyze the distribution of the velocity and thickness of the rising liquid thin film during its evaporation. The behaviors of the flow characteristics were discussed and the results showed that geometric properties of the fluted surface of a horizontal tube and surface tension of the fluid were essential for the formation of a continuous and uniform liquid thin film. Theoretical analysis suggested that the capillary force created by the fluid surface tension was a key value for the formation of the thin film. The heat and mass transfer characteristics of the formed thin film also had an effect on the formation of the rising film. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 34(6): 396–406, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20075     

水平螺旋槽管壁面液膜特性的研究

研究水平螺旋槽管壁面液膜的形成机理及流动特性。通过建立单组分流体的物理和数学模型，得出了液膜的速度、厚度解析解，并分析了水平螺旋槽管的几何条件对壁面液膜形成的影响。结果表明：液膜的形状主要受表面张力和槽道表面几何形状的影响，在槽道谷底处较厚，而在槽道起始处较薄。相对于光滑直管，水平螺旋槽管壁面液膜具有更均匀的厚度分布，故具有更好的传热传质性能。     

Turbulent liquid film evaporation in a partially heated wall along a vertical tube

In this numerical study, the evaporative heat and mass transfer of a turbulent falling liquid film in a finite vertical tube are investigated. The liquid film flows in the tube's inner wall, whose outer wall is partially subject to thermal flux. Here, different configurations corresponding to thermal flux imposed on different external surface wall percentages are examined. External face zones where the heat flux is not applied are maintained insulated. The nonlinear set of parabolic mass, momentum, energy, and mass fraction conservation equations combined with boundary and interfacial conditions are treated numerically using implicit finite difference procedure. For falling liquid film analysis, an adapted Van Driest turbulence model is used. For the present work, it is supposed that gas flows in a laminar regime. We examine in this paper the impact of the percentage of heated surface area on flows as well as on heat and mass transfer. Obtained results for a partially heated wall are compared with those produced for an entirely heated wall.     

竖直螺旋槽管壁面液膜在蒸发/冷凝时的传热特性的研究

研究竖直螺旋槽管壁面液膜在传热条件下的液膜形成及流动特性，建立了单组分流体的物理和数学模型并得出解析解，且分析了壁面液膜在蒸发，冷凝及无热传输时的液膜厚度分布及速度分布，结果表明，液膜的形状主要受表面张力影响，在表面内弯处流膜较厚，而在槽道起始部液膜较薄，相对于光滑直管，竖直螺旋槽管壁面液膜具有均匀的厚度分布和更好的传热传质性质，特别在冷凝时壁面液膜更薄且分布更加均匀。     

Breakdown of Evaporating Falling Films as a Function of Surface Tension Gradient

This study has found that liquid film breakdown in isopropanol, ethylene glycol, and water mixtures occurred only in systems with negative surface tension gradients. These systems were characterized by a decrease in local surface tension with a decrease in film thickness. Thus, the direction of surface tension gradient with respect to film thickness can be used as a criterion for predicting falling film breakdown in certain mixture systems.

Visual observations of an evaporating falling film gave insight into the mechanism of film breakdown. It appeared that a lateral surface shear force created by the surface tension gradient caused lateral expansion of valleys of the wavy film liquid film as it flowed over the heating surface. This valley expansion caused localized gradual thinning of the wavy film, so that the film thinned to an unstable thickness and broke down.     

A theoretical study of evaporative heat transfer in high‐velocity two‐phase flow of air–water in a small vertical tube

A theoretical study was performed to investigate the evaporative heat transfer of high‐velocity two‐phase flow of air–water in a small vertical tube under both heating conditions of constant wall temperature and constant heat flux. A simplified two‐phase flow boundary layer model was used to evaluate the evaporative heat transfer characteristics of the annular two‐phase flow. The analytical results show that the gravitational force, the gas–liquid surface tension force, and the inertial force are much smaller than the frictional force and hence can be neglected for a small tube. The evaporative heat transfer characteristics of the small tube with constant wall temperature are quite close to those of the small tube with constant heat flux. The mechanism of the heat transfer enhancement is the forced convective evaporation on the surface of the thin liquid film. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 32(5): 430–444, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10110     

非能动安全壳竖直平板降膜流动特性数值模拟

核电安全日益受到关注,非能动系统作为第三代核电系统具有很高的安全性。采用FLUENT流体体积分数(volume of fraction,VOF)模型和k-ε湍流模型对非能动安全壳冷却系统(passive containment cooling system,PCCS)三维平板降膜流动进行数值模拟。结果表明:1)在降膜过程中有波动现象,最终波动趋于平缓;2)水与空气逆流流动过程中发生轻微的液滴夹带;3)降膜流动受重力、表面张力与壁面黏滞力共同作用,液膜厚度沿横向分布均匀,沿高度方向平均液膜厚度越来越小,并且受进口水流速度与入口宽度影响,水流量一定时增加进口水流速度与入口宽度,平均液膜厚度增大,空气入口流速对水膜厚度影响相对较小。     

STABILITY REGIMES OF THIN LIQUID FILMS

The stability of thin liquid films on solid surfaces is fundamental to many phenomena such as dropwise and filmwise condensation, evaporation and boiling, as well as self-assembly of clusters and molecules. The free energy of a liquid film consists of a surface tension component as well as highly nonlinear volumetric intermolecular forces resulting from van der Waals, electrostatic, hydration, and elastic strain interactions. Athermodynamic stability analysis showed that surface tension always stabilizes a film, whereas van der Waals force with positive values of Hamaker constant (A 0) tends to destabilize. The competition between the electrostatic and surface tension stabilizing forces on one hand and van der Waals force (A 0) on the other leads to a wide variety of stability maps for different ion concentrations, which contain thickness ranges where the films are unconditionally stable. A case study of water films on glass surfaces was used to investigate the effects of short-range hydration and strain interactions as well as negative values of the Hamaker constant (A 0). The analysis showed that a water film on glass is unconditionally stable if its thickness is either less than 3 nm or more than 10 nm, and unstable in between. It is suggested that the instability at 3 nm ruptures the water film resulting in droplet formation, and is the key to dropwise condensation of water on glass. In addition, stable films thicker than 10 nm, which are formed by coalescing droplets, lead to filmwise condensation.     

自由表面摩擦和蒸发对过冷下降液膜传热的影响

从理论上对下降液膜在自由表面上存在反向剪切力和蒸发散热情况下的换热特性进行了分析,得到了膜厚、换热系数的无量纲关系式,讨论了剪切力、液膜雷诺数、壁面热流、蒸发率对流动和传热的影响。     

Experience on horizontal‐tube falling‐film evaporation simulation by lattice‐Boltzmann method

Complex heat and mass transfers through falling‐film or spray‐film evaporation are widely used in chemical, refrigeration, petroleum refining, desalination, and food industries. Considering that microscopic effects, like surface tension, flow, mass, and heat transfers, are interdependent phenomena, the high‐precision simulation of falling‐film evaporation through a mesoscopic method is of great importance. In the current study, the lattice‐Boltzmann method and the phase‐field model with a proper source term are used for evaporation simulation in a horizontal‐tube falling film. Here, the curvature of the tube is captured by appropriate boundary conditions. Nondimensional numbers and the geometry of the model are determined in a range of practical values. By comparing the film thickness, mass, and heat transfer with valid references in the literature, an acceptable agreement is observed, which reveals the effectiveness of this method in understanding the details and predictions. Overall, the time evolution of temperature contours and streamlines during falling‐film evaporation approves the superiority of this method in keeping details along with lower difficulty and cost compared with the classical methods.     

Theoretical analysis of film condensation heat transfer inside vertical mini triangular channels

An analytical model is presented for predicting film condensation of vapor flowing inside a vertical mini triangular channel. The concurrent liquid-vapor two-phase flow field is divided into three zones: the thin liquid film flow on the sidewall, the condensate flow in the corners, and the vapor core flow in the center. The model takes into account the effects of capillary force induced by the free liquid film curvature variation, interfacial shear stress, interfacial thermal resistance, gravity, axial pressure gradient, and saturation temperatures. The axial variation of the cross-sectional average heat transfer coefficient of steam condensing inside an equilateral triangular channel is found to be substantially higher than that inside a round tube having the same hydraulic diameter, in particular in the entry region. This enhancement is attributed to the extremely thin liquid film on the sidewall that results from the liquid flow toward the channel corners due to surface tension. The influences of the inlet vapor flow rates, the inlet subcooling, and the channel size on the heat transfer coefficients are also examined.     

R1234ze(E)与R134a在水平双侧强化管外的凝结换热对比实验

搭建了水平单管降膜蒸发试验台,以第四代制冷剂R1234ze(E)和第三代制冷剂R134a作为工质,在新型水平双侧强化管管外分别进行了改变管内水速、热流密度和冷凝温度条件的凝结换热实验。使用Wilson-Gnielinski图解法计算得到管内表面传热系数h_i,进一步采用热阻分离法分离出两种制冷剂的管外表面传热系数,并分析了管内冷却水水速、冷凝温度和壁面过冷度的变化对其换热性能的影响。实验结果表明:同根实验管下不同制冷剂凝结换热性能的差异与制冷剂物性与强化管结构之间的匹配特性有关,实验管型下,R1234ze(E)的管外凝结换热性能高于R134a。     

竖直细小管内水_空气环状流蒸发换热特性研究

通过理论分析,研究了竖直细小管内水－空气环状两相流的蒸发换热特性。研究结果表明在细小管内,重力和气液表面张力的影响可以忽略。在定热流密度和定壁温两种条件下的蒸发换热特性十分接近。计算表明竖直细小管内水－空气环状两相流的蒸发换热是一种十分有效的强化换 热手段。     

COMPUTATION OF THE FREE SURFACE FLOW OF A THIN LIQUID FILM AT ZERO AND NORMAL GRAVITY

The results of numerical computations are presented for the free surface flow of a thin liquid film in the presence or absence of a gravitational body force. Three different flow systems were studied: a falling film down a vertical wall, plane and radial film flows under zero gravity, and plane and radial film flows along a horizontal plate in the presence of gravity. Computations were performed using a boundary-fitted coordinate system where the irregular free surface conformed to one of the flow boundaries. The distributions of film height and friction coefficient were found to be strongly affected by the magnitude and orientation of the gravitational body force. Besides the Reynolds number, the Froude number of the film, which characterizes the flow regime (i.e., supercritical or subcritical), is found to be an important parameter for horizontal flow in the presence of gravity.     

Numerical simulation and experimental results of horizontal tube falling film generator working in a NH3–LiNO3 absorption refrigeration system

This paper describes the work made at the Centro de Investigación en Energía in the development of an absorption refrigeration system for cooling and refrigeration applications with a capacity of 10 kW. The single effect unit utilizes ammonia-lithium nitrate as working pair and it is air cooled. The generator is a falling film type with horizontal tubes where the heating oil flows inside the tube bank and the ammonia-lithium nitrate solution flows as a falling film on the tube outside, where it is heated and ammonia vapor is generated. The generator consists of tree columns and four rows per column of horizontal tubes. The system was tested at controlled conditions with heating oil obtained from an electric resistance heating loop. A numerical model of the horizontal falling film generator was developed that divided the system into three different thermal elements: the flow inside the tube, the heat conduction in the tube wall and the falling film solution flow. The mathematical model was tested and validated with experimental data and a study of the influence of the heat transfer coefficient for ammonia-lithium nitrate solution in the numerical model was carried out. A comparison between experimental and numerical data for the heat flux in the system and the temperature profiles in the oil and solution flows shown a good degree of correlation.     

薄液膜二维表面驻波的流动稳定性研究

驻波作为薄液膜表面波中的一种波,其流动稳定性受界面热不平衡效应的影响。基于边界层理论和界面热不平衡效应,推导出沿倾斜璧面下降的在蒸发、等温和冷凝状态下普遍适用的二维表面驻波空间稳定性方程,从理论上深入分析了热不平衡效应、流体物性、壁面倾角和雷诺数对驻波稳定性的影响。研究表明：热不平衡效应对驻波稳定性的影响仅在小雷诺数下较为明显,在高雷诺数下,稳定性主要取决于惯性力和粘性力;流体物性和壁面倾角在整个雷诺数范围内均起着非常明显的作用。     

水平螺旋槽管降膜流动和传热特性研究

对水平螺旋槽管壁面降膜形成及传热特性进行了理论和实验研究,得到了液膜厚度及速度的解析及数值解.结果表明,降膜液膜特性主要受槽道结构和液膜表面张力控制.管壁温度沿周向向下逐渐升高,而且在定热流密度下保持不变,而液膜温度则沿周向逐渐上升.相比光管,螺旋槽管降膜具有更高的传热系数.