Temperature pulsations and thermocapillary effects on the surface of a wavy heated liquid film

The temperature pulsations and wave characteristics in water film flow along a vertical plate with a heater are investigated. Using an infrared scanner, the temperature field on the film surface is measured for various heat flux densities on the heater. Experimental data on the variation of the temperature with time on a local segment of the liquid film surface during wave transmission are obtained. In the absence of a heat flux the data obtained are in good agreement with the results of other researchers for an isothermal liquid film. When the down-flowing liquid is heated, the thermocapillary forces lead to the formation of rivulets and a thin film between them. It is shown that in the inter-rivulet zone the relative wave amplitude increases due to the action of the thermocapillary forces.     

An accurate model for the thin film flow

This paper deals with the linear stability of a liquid film flowing down an inclined plane. The Navier-Stokes equations were reduced into four evolution equations that describe the development of the film depth, the flow rate, the free surface velocity, and the wall shear stress, using the Karman-Polhausen boundary layer integral method. Thus, we were able to determine the stability threshold and approach well the critical wave number for long waves. The obtained results were found to be in good agreement with the experiments of Liu et al.     

Model of a wavy flow in a falling film of a viscous liquid

A new model is developed for describing long-wave perturbations in a falling film of a viscous liquid. The model is based on an integral approach and an expansion of the velocity profile into a series in linearly independent basis functions of a boundary-value problem. A linear analysis of film flow stability is performed, and dispersion dependences are obtained. Results predicted by the new model are demonstrated to be in good agreement with available experimental data on the film flow over a gently sloping surface.     

Wave development on a thinning liquid film

Experimental results are presented for the growth of surface waves on a liquid film that thins as it flows under gravity over the surface of an upright circular cone. The characteristics of the mean film are calculated on the assumption of quasi-parallel flow, and the actual mean thickness found to relate very closely to that found on this basis. The development of the film was found to fall into three phases: the entry zone in which the velocity profile of the film becomes established where no waves are visible, a region of wave growth in which amplitude, wave speed, and wave length all grow, and a final region in which amplitude and wave speed decline as the film thins further although wave length continues to grow. An empirical relationship is presented which expresses the wave number at any point on the cone in terms of the flow rate and a parameter based on the local Reynolds and Weber numbers and cone angle. It was found that for a given flow rate the maximum wave amplitude was reached at a value of wave number of 0·048.     

Experimental study of the stochastic nature of wave phenomena on the surface of a liquid film

An experimental study was made of wave phenomena on the surface of a liquid film freely flowing down the walls of a vertical channel in the range of Reynolds numbers for film flow (Re=Γ/η= 50–2500, where Γ is the mass spray density and η is the dynamic viscosity) at various distances from the entrance. The working fluid (water) was fed into the operating section at a temperature of 15–30 °C. The dependence of typical wave parameters on mode parameters was obtained.     

Visualisation and modelling studies of churn flow in a vertical pipe

Churn flow is an important flow regime intermediate between slug flow and annular flow. A feature of this regime is the occurrence of very large waves travelling upwards over a liquid film substrate which may intermittently travel downwards. These waves are often formed close to the liquid inlet where their behaviour is usually difficult to observe. This paper describes a series of experiments using a test section with a specially constructed transparent liquid inlet. High-speed video recordings show clearly the process of wave formation and analysis of the recordings gave data on wave frequencies and typical velocities. Also, predictions of velocity and distance travelled by the waves were obtained via the application of a simple mathematical model that takes into account the forces acting on a circumferentially coherent wave.     

Flooding in vertical two-phase flow

The phenomenon of flooding limits the stability of a liquid film falling along the walls of a tube in which a gas is flowing upward. This paper describes a series of experiments to observe and photograph the flooding process. Flooding in a vertical perspex tube was observed by viewing axially along the tube from the top, and flooding on the walls of a stainless steel rod supported centrally within a perspex tube was observed by viewing normally through the tube walls. The resulting observations show that flooding occurs as a result of the formation and motion of a large disturbance wave on the surface of the liquid film. A simple theoretical treatment of flooding is presented, based on the observations of the flooding disturbance. The resulting equations enable the calculation of the gas velocity and the liquid wave height at flooding, and the predictions are in good agreement with experimental observations reported here and elsewhere.     

Nonlinear vibrations of a vapor film in the presence of intense heat fluxes

Waves propagating along the interface between a thin vapor film and a liquid layer in the presence of a heat flux are investigated. The boundary conditions on the vapor-liquid phase surface take into account the temperature dependence of the pressure and the possibilities of formation of the metastable state of the superheated liquid and mass flow. Variations in the saturation pressure as functions of the temperature and mass flux lead to generation of weakly damped periodic waves of low amplitude whose velocity can be much higher than the velocity of the gravity waves. The waves ensure stability of the vapor film beneath the liquid layer in the gravity field. The finite-amplitude waves on the surface of the vapor film differ from the Stokes surface waves on the free surface of isothermal fluid. Instability regimes related with superheating of the liquid ant its explosive boiling when the amplitude of an initially small wave increases to infinity in a finite time can develop in a certain working-parameter regime.     

Solitary waves in a viscous liquid film flowing down a thin vertical cylinder

Several equations to describe the flow of a viscous liquid film on a thin cylinder are derived. The solitary-wave solutions to these equations are studied. The families of solutions are constructed for the first two eigenvalues that correspond to single-humped and double-humped waves. It is found that these families become similar as the similarity parameter increases. The dependencies of phase velocities and wave amplitudes on the free parameters of the problem are analyzed. The resulting solutions are compared with solitary waves in films on a flat surface.     

Behaviour of liquid films and flooding in counter-current two-phase flow. Part 2. Flow in annuli and rod bundles

Experiments are described on the gas velocity at the onset of flooding and the maximum height of the wavy liquid film flowing downwards on a rod surface. On the basis of a simple analysis for a large amplitude wave on the liquid film, a flooding condition relating the maximum wave height to the gas velocity at the onset of flooding is derived. The values predicted by this condition show a good agreement with the measured results.An equivalent diameter of the channel is defined for the flooding velocity. Applying this diameter, the present data for annuli and rod bundles are well correlated by the same empirical equation as that for flow in circular tubes presented previously.     

Numerical simulation of convective heat transfer to a radial free surface jet impinging on a hot solid

The convective heat transfer between a circular free surface impinging jet and a solid surface has been studied numerically. The thin liquid film formed on the surface has been assumed to be in non-turbulent free surface flow. The effects of surface tension, viscosity, gravity and heat transfer between the film flow and the solid surface have been taken into account. The flow structure on a non-heated surface has been investigated first. Next, the steady-state flow structure in the liquid film as well as the heat transfer has been examined. The predicted results have been compared with experimental data for the purpose of validating the analysis. The hydrodynamics of the liquid film and the heat transfer processes have been investigated numerically to understand the physics of the phenomena. Received on 5 October 1998     

Thermal imaging study on the surface wave of heated falling liquid films

By using thermal imaging technique and film thickness metering system, the surface wave and film thickness of the heated falling liquid film were experimentally investigated. Temperature variations of the heated film induce surface tension gradient and so-caused Marangoni flow that attempts to avoid the temperature variations. There are three kinds of Marangoni flow appearing in the heated falling liquid film. It is found that the lateral Marangoni flow (MF I) and the streamwise Marangoni flow (MF II) make the heated film thick, while the Marangoni flow in the surface wave (MF III) reinforces the wave and makes the heated film thin. The intensity of Marangoni flow is determined by the flow rate and the heating conditions. MF I and MF II are both enhanced with the increasing liquid flow rate. Moreover, MF III is prominent under moderate flow rates and is gradually weakened at high flow rates. The distance over which MF III starts, increases with a rise in flow rate, but is independent of the heating condition.     

波纹竖板层流降膜蒸发传热的分析

对高粘度液体在等温正弦形波纹壁面上的自由降落与蒸发建立了摄动分析模型。得到了流动的分析解和蒸发传热的数值解。考察了壁面波纹的波幅和波数、液膜表面张力及贝克利数对流动与传热的影响,结果表明,加大波纹的波幅、适当选择波数、减小贝克利数可增强传热,而表面张力对蒸发传热的影响较小。     

Diffusion to a particle covered with a liquid film

Formulas are established for calculating the influx of a substance to the surface of a liquid film on a particle in a laminar flow of an incompressible liquid with small Reynolds numbers. It is assumed that there is complete absorption of the diffusing substance at the surface of the film. An expression derived in [1] is used to solve the problem of the field of the flow velocities. The results obtained generalize expressions for the influx of substance to a drop found in [2].     

Stability of a laminar film flow

The problem of the wave motion of a liquid layer was first investigated by Kapitsa [1, 2], who gave an approximate analysis of the free flow and flow in contact with gas stream, and evaluated the influence of the heat transfer processes on the flow. The problem of the stability of such a flow was studied in detail by Benjamin [3] and Yih [4, 5], These authors proposed seeking the solution of the resulting Orr-Sommerfeld equation in the form of a series in a small parameter and developed a corresponding method of successive approximations. As the small parameter [3–5], they made use of the product of the disturbance wave number and the Reynolds number. In these studies, the tangential stress on the free surface was taken equal to zero, and the fluid film was always considered essentially plane. At the same time, there are certain types of problems of considerable interest in which neither of these assumptions is satisfied. A good example might be the problem on the stability of the annular regime of two-phase flow in pipes and capillaries, when the basic stream of one fluid is separated from the pipe walls by an annular layer of another fluid. In this case, the interface has a finite radius of curvature and the tangential stress on the interface may be significantly different from zero.In the present paper, the problem of the flow stability of a fluid layer with respect to small disturbances of the boundary surface is considered with account for both the finite radius of curvature of the boundary surface and the nonzero hydrodynamic friction at the boundary. The film is assumed to be quite thin. This enables us, firstly, to consider the Reynolds number small, to use the general method of [5], and, second ly, to consider the film thickness sufficiently small in comparison with the radius of curvature of the substrate on which the film lies. Furthermore, for evaluating the stability of the laminar flow of the curved film we can use the results obtained for a plane film with account for the terms which depend on the curvature of the substrate.As a rule, previous studies have considered only one-dimensional disturbances of the boundary surface. In the present paper, in the first approximation, the stability is examined in relation to two-dimensional disturbances of this surface, corresponding to three-dimensional flow disturbances.As an example, the results obtained are applied to the investigation of the stability of the free flow of a layer of fluid over an inclined plane under the sole influence of gravity.     

Two-fluid modeling in analyzing the interfacial stability of liquid film flows

The area-averaged two-fluid model formulation of a separated two-phase flow system is used to investigate interfacial stability of liquid film flows. The analysis takes into account the effects of phase change at the interface as well as the dynamic effects of the adjacent vapor flow on the interfacial stability. Wave formation and instability criteria are established in terms of the generalized fluid and flow parameters. The criteria are applied to investigate the stability of laminar liquid film flow with interfacial shear and phase change. The influence of various dimensionless parameters characterizing film thickness, gravity, phase change and interfacial shear are studied with respect to the neutral stability, temporal growth factor and the wave propagation velocity. The results of the present study indicate that the interfacial stability analysis developed within the frame of the two-fluid model formulation proves to be quite accurate as judged by comparing its results with the available experimental data and with the results of much longer and more complex analytical investigations which are valid only for the liquid film free of interfacial shear.     

Long waves between a subsonic gas flow-film interface flowing down an inclined plate

The present work deals with temporal stability properties of a falling liquid film down an inclined plane in the presence of a parallel subsonic gas flow. The waves are described by evolution equation previously derived as a generalization of the model for the Newtonian liquid. We confirm linear stability results of the basic flow using the Orr–Sommerfeld analysis to that obtained by long wave approximation analysis. The non-linear stability criteria of the model are discussed analytically and stability branches are obtained. Finally, the solitary wave solutions at the liquid–gas interface are discussed, using specially envelope transform and direct ansatz approach to Ginzburg–Landau equation. The influence of different parameters governing the flow on the stability behavior of the system is discussed in detail.     

Evaporation of pure liquids with increased viscosity in a falling film evaporator

The present study investigated fluid dynamics and heat transfer of viscous pure liquids in a falling film evaporator. This is of special benefit as it avoids mass transfer effects on the evaporation behaviour. Experiments at a single-tube glass falling film evaporator were conducted. It allowed a full-length optical film observation with a high-speed camera. Additionally the evaporator was equipped with a slotted weir distribution device. Test fluids provided viscosities ranging from μ = 0.3 to 41 mPa s. The Reynolds number was between 0.7 and 1,930. Surface evaporation and the transition to nucleate boiling were studied to gain information about the film stability at maximum wall superheat. A reliable database for laminar and laminar-wavy viscous single component films was created. The experimental results show a significant enhancement in the wave development due to the film distribution. A wavy flow with different wave velocities was superposed to the film in each liquid load configuration without causing a film breakdown or dry spots on the evaporator tube. It was found that nucleate boiling can be allowed without causing film instabilities over a significant range of wall superheat.     

Stability of a Liquid Film Flowing Down an Oscillating Inclined Surface

The stability of flow of a liquid film along an inclined plate subject to periodic oscillations under the action of the gravity force is investigated with allowance for the surface tension. An equation of the Orr-Sommerfeld type with time-periodic coefficients is used. A method for determining the eigenvalues of the linear stability problem is developed on the basis of Floquet theory, spectral representation of the variables, and multistep methods of integration of ordinary differential equations. The bifurcation spectrum of the resonance modes is investigated, and the amplification coefficients and phase velocities are calculated for the surface waves, Tollmien-Schlichting waves, and resonance waves. The influence of external parameters, namely, the inclination, the surface tension, and the layer thickness, on the resonance modes and the steady-state flow modes is studied.     

Primary instabilities of liquid film flow sheared by turbulent gas stream

Evolution of excited waves on a viscous liquid film has been investigated experimentally for the annular gas–liquid flow in a vertical tube. For the first time the dispersion relations are obtained experimentally for linear waves on liquid film surface in the presence of turbulent gas flow. Both cocurrent and countercurrent flow regimes are investigated. As an example of comparison with theory, the experimental data are compared to the results of calculations based on the Benjamin quasi-laminar model for turbulent gas flow. The calculation results are found to be in good agreement with experiments for moderate values of film Reynolds number.