Wettability Effects on Falling Film Heat Transfer Over Horizontal Tubes in Jet Flow Mode

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avijit Karmakar ◽  
Sumanta Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Contact Angle ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Flow Mode ◽  
Falling Film ◽  
Tube Surface ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Horizontal Tubes ◽  
Solid Liquid

Abstract The performance of a falling-film heat exchanger is strongly linked to the surface characteristics and the heat transfer processes that take place over the tubes. The primary aim of this numerical study is to characterize the influence of surface wettability of tubes on the falling film flow mode and its associated surface heat transfer. Surface wettability is generally characterized by the contact angle and, in this study, the wettability characteristics ranged from superhydrophilic to a superhydrophobic tube surface. The dynamic motion of the triple contact line connecting the solid, liquid and gas phases over the tube surface is replicated with the help of the Kistler’s dynamic contact angle model. The volume of Fluid (VOF) simulations was carried out for the flow and heat transfer of liquid flow over horizontal tubes with different surface wettabilities. The mass flow rate is such that the flow is in the jet mode where the liquid flows in the form of jets in between the horizontal tubes. This corresponds to a liquid mass flow rate per unit tube length of 0.06 and 0.18 Kg/m-s, under which the inline and staggered jets modes of flow are observed. Under the two flow rates and different surface wettabilities, the liquid flow hydrodynamics over the tube surfaces was explored in terms of the liquid film thickness, the contact areas (solid-liquid and liquid-air) between the different phases, and the heat transfer coefficient. The axial resistance imposed by the increasing contact angle tends to inhibit the extent of the liquid spreading over the tube surface and this, in turn, influences the liquid film thickness and the wetted area of the tube surface. A significant decrement in the heat transfer rate from the tube surfaces was observed as the equilibrium contact angle ranged from 2° to 175°. Heat transfer characteristics were quantified over a wide range of contact angles for the two mass flow rates. Fluid recirculations were observed in the liquid bulk which had a major impact on the heat transfer distribution over the tube surface.

Wettability Effects on Falling Film Flow and Heat Transfer Over Horizontal Tubes in Jet Flow Mode

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Avijit Karmakar ◽  
Sumanta Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Contact Angle ◽  
Nusselt Number ◽  
Film Flow ◽  
Jet Flow ◽  
Equilibrium Contact Angle ◽  
Flow Mode ◽  
Falling Film ◽  
Tube Surface ◽  
Horizontal Tubes

Abstract The performance of a falling-film heat exchanger is strongly linked to the surface characteristics and the heat transfer processes that take place over the tubes. The primary aim of this numerical study is to characterize the influence of surface wettability on the film flow behavior and its associated surface heat transfer in the jet-flow mode. Volume of fluid (VOF) based simulations are carried out for horizontal tubes with different surface wettabilities. The wettability of the tube surfaces is represented using the Kistler's dynamic contact angle model. Surface wettability effects ranging from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic are studied by varying the equilibrium contact angle from 2 deg to 175 deg. Two different liquid mass flow rates of 0.06 and 0.18 kg/m-s corresponding to the inline and staggered jet flow modes are studied. Results are presented in terms of the liquid film thickness, the contact areas between the different phases (solid–liquid and liquid–air), and the heat transfer coefficient or Nusselt number. The resistance imposed by the increasing contact angles inhibits the extent of the liquid spreading over the tube surface, and this, in turn, influences the liquid film thickness, and the wetted area of the tube surface. A significant decrement in the heat transfer rate from the tube surfaces was observed as the equilibrium contact angle increased from 2 deg to 175 deg. The local distributions of the Nusselt number over the tube surface are strongly influenced by the flow recirculation in the liquid bulk.

Falling Film Transitions on Plain and Enhanced Tubes

2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Roques ◽  
V. Dupont ◽  
J. R. Thome
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Film Condensation ◽  
Flow Mode ◽  
Water Mixture ◽  
Falling Film ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Enhanced Tubes ◽  
Plain Tube ◽  
Enhanced Boiling

In falling film heat transfer on horizontal tube bundles, liquid flow from tube to tube occurs as a falling jet that can take on different flow modes. At low flow rates, the liquid film falls as discrete droplets. At higher flow rates, these droplets form discretely spaced liquid columns. At still higher flow rates, the film falls as a continuous sheet of liquid. Predicting the flow transitions between these flow modes is an essential step in determining the heat transfer coefficient for the particular flow mode, whether for a single phase process or for falling film condensation or evaporation. Previous studies have centered mostly on falling films on plain tube arrays. The objective of the present study is to extend the investigation to tubes with enhanced surfaces: a low finned tube, an enhanced boiling tube and an enhanced condensation tube. The effect of tube spacing on flow transition has also been investigated. The test fluids were water, glycol and a glycol-water mixture. The adiabatic experimental results show that the flow mode transition thresholds for the enhanced boiling tube are very similar to those of the plain tube while the fin structure of the other two enhanced tubes can significantly shift their transition thresholds.

Effects of Tube Row on Heat Transfer and Surface Wetting of Microscale Porous-Layer Coated, Horizontal-Tube, Falling-Film Evaporator

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Batikan Köroğlu ◽  
Nicholas Bogan ◽  
Chanwoo Park
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Porous Layer ◽  
Horizontal Tube ◽  
Flow Mode ◽  
Falling Film ◽  
Surface Wetting ◽  
Solution Flow ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Film Evaporator ◽  
Evaporation Heat

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of tube row on surface wetting and heat transfer of a horizontal-tube, falling-film evaporator. Two types of the evaporator tubes were used for comparison: plain copper and copper coated with a microscale porous-layer. Distilled water was used as solution and heating fluids. A visual observation experiment performed in ambient with no heat input showed that when solution fluid was dripped onto the evaporator tubes from a solution dispenser, the plain tubes were partially wetted, while the porous-layer coated tubes were completely wetted due to capillary liquid spreading, even at low solution flow rates. It was found from the heat transfer experiment performed in a closed chamber under saturated conditions that the porous-layer coated tubes exhibited superior evaporation heat transfer (up to 100% overall improvement over the plain tubes at low solution flow rates) due to complete solution wetting and thin-film evaporation. It was also observed that the surface wetting and heat transfer are greatly influenced by both intertube flow mode of solution fluid and tube wall superheat. The effects of the tube row on the solution wetting and heat transfer were significant, especially for downstream tubes.

scholarly journals Thermal analysis in thin-film fluid regions of rectangular microgroove

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 899-897
Author(s):  
Xiaohong Gui ◽  
Xiange Song ◽  
Baisheng Nie
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Contact Angle ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Flux Distribution ◽  
Total Heat ◽  
Heat Flux Distribution ◽  
Total Heat Transfer ◽  
Thin Film Thickness

The effects of contact angle and superheat on thin-film thickness and heat flux distribution occurring in a rectangle microgroove are numerically simulated. Accordingly, physical, and mathematical models are built in detail. Numerical results indicate that meniscus radius and thin-film thickness increase with the improvement of contact angle. The heat flux distribution in the thin-film region increases non-linearly as the contact angle decreases. The total heat transfer through the thin-film region increases with the improvement of superheat, and decreases as the contact angle increases. When the contact angle is equal to zero, the heat transfer in the thin-film region accounts for more than 80% of the total heat transfer. Intensive evaporation in the thin-film region plays a key role in heat transfer for the rectangle capillary microgroove. The liquid with higher wetting performance is more capable of playing the advantages of higher intensity heat transfer in thin- film region. The current investigation will result in a better understanding of thin- -film evaporation and its effect on the effective thermal conductivity in the rectangle microgroove.

Application of the Transient Heat Transfer Measurement Technique Using TLC in a Network Configuration With Intersecting Circular Passages

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anika Steurer ◽  
Rico Poser ◽  
Jens von Wolfersdorf ◽  
Stefan Retzko
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Fluid Temperature ◽  
Thermochromic Liquid Crystal ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Flow Network ◽  
Mass Flow Rates ◽  
Time Information

The present study deals with the application of the transient thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) technique in a flow network of intersecting circular passages as a potential internal turbine component cooling geometry. The investigated network consists of six circular passages with a diameter d = 20mm that intersect coplanar at an angle θ = 40°, the innermost in three, the outermost in one intersection level. Two additional non-intersecting passages serve as references. Such a flow network entails specific characteristics associated with the transient TLC method that have to be accounted for in the evaluation process: the strongly curved surfaces, the mixing and mass flow redistribution at each intersection point, and the resulting gradients between the wall and passage centerline temperatures. All this impedes the choice of a representative fluid reference temperature, which results in deviations using established evaluation methods. An alternative evaluation approach is introduced, which is supported by computational results obtained from steady-state three-dimensional RANS simulations using the SST turbulence model. The presented analysis uncouples local heat transfer coefficients from actually measured local temperatures but uses the time information of the thermocouples instead that represents the fluid temperature step change and evolution along the passages. This experimental time information is transferred to the steady-state numerical bulk temperatures, which are finally used as local references to evaluate the transient TLC experiments. As effective local mass flow rates in the passage sections are considered, the approach eventually allows for a conclusion whether heat transfer is locally enhanced due to higher mass flow rates or the intersection effects.

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