Abstract: | Both heat and mass transfer in the gas phase and heat transfer in the liquid phase are examined experimentally for film condensation of organic binary mixtures such as ethanol-water and methanol-water. Experimental results on the average heat flux, vapor-liquid interface temperature and liquid-phase Nusselt number are compared with analytical solutions based on stagnant film theory and heat-transfer relationships for film condensation from a pure vapor. Experimental heat transfer results agree well with the analytical solutions, except that the experimental liquid-phase Nusselt numbers under conditions of low mass fraction of water are considerably higher than predicted by the analytical solutions. This high value of the liquid-phase Nusselt number is considered to be caused by dropwise condensation in the liquid phase. However, its effect on the tube bundle is not so remarkable compared with that in gravity-controlled condensation on a vertical surface. This is considered to be caused by the condensate inundation effect. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Heat Trans Jpn Res, 25(6): 342–361, 1996 |