| Abstract: | A numerical analysis was carried out to investigate the effects of film vaporization on natural convection heat and mass transfer in a vertical tube. Results for interfacial Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are presented for air-ethanol and air-water systems for various conditions. Predicted results show that heat transfer along the gas-liquid interface is dominated by the transport of latent heat in association with the vaporization of the liquid film. Additionally, the predicted results obtained by including transport in the liquid film are contrasted with those where liquid film transport is neglected, showing that the assumption of an extremely thin film made by Chang et al. (1986) and Yan and Lin (1990) is only valid for systems with small liquid mass flow rates. For systems with a high liquid film Reynolds number, Re10, the assumption of an extremely thin film is seriously in error. |
