Effects of a countercurrent gas flow on falling-film mode transitions between horizontal tubes

A liquid film falling between horizontal tubes is known to take the form of droplets, jets or sheets, depending on the liquid flow rate; the form of the flow is the so-called “falling-film mode”. Although previously neglected in studies of mode transition, a countercurrent gas flow often exists in falling-film heat exchangers, and its effect on the liquid flow might be important: it could impact the flow regime, lead to local “dryout,” and decrease the heat transfer rate. Experiments are conducted to explore the effects of a countercurrent gas flow and liquid feeding length on falling-film mode transitions for a liquid flowing over horizontal tubes. The effects on mode transition are shown to depend on fluid properties and are explained in terms of unsteadiness and film thickness. In general, transition hysteresis is reduced with an increasing gas velocity. A correlation is developed to predict the countercurrent gas flow effects on falling-film mode transitions. The liquid feeding length can affect mode transitions in quiescent surroundings and when a countercurrent gas flow imposed.     

Viscous falling film instability around a vertical moving cylinder

The present work discusses both the linear and nonlinear stability conditions of a viscous falling film down the outer surface of a solid vertical cylinder which moves in the direction of its axis with a constant velocity.After studying the linear conditions,a generalized nonlinear kinematic model is then derived to present the physical system.Applying the boundary conditions,analytical solutions are obtained using the long-wave perturbation method.In the first step,the normal mode method is used to characterize the linear behaviors.In the second step,the nonlinear film flow model is solved by using the method of multiple scales,to obtain Ginzburg-Landau equation.The influence of some physical parameters is discussed in both linear and nonlinear steps of the problem,and the results are displayed in many plots showing the stability criteria in various parameter planes.     

Nonlinearwaves in a liquid film-gas flow system

The instability and regular nonlinear waves in the film of a heavy viscous liquid flowing along the wall of a round tube and interacting with a gas flow are investigated. The solutions for the wave film flows are numerically obtained in the regimes from free flow-down in a counter-current gas stream to cocurrent upward flow of the film and the gas at fairly large gas velocities. Continuous transition from the counter-current to the cocurrent flow via the state with a maximum amplitude of nonlinear waves and zero values of the liquid flow rate and the phase velocity is investigated. The Kapitsa-Shkadov method is used to reduce a boundary value problem to a system of evolutionary equations for the local values of the layer thickness and the liquid flow rate.     

Evaporation and flow dynamics of thin, shear-driven liquid films in microgap channels

Thin and ultra-thin shear-driven liquid films in a narrow channel are a promising candidate for the thermal management of advanced semiconductor devices in earth and space applications. Such flows experience complex, and as yet poorly understood, two-phase flow phenomena requiring significant advances in fundamental research before they could be broadly applied. This paper focuses on the results obtained in experiments with locally heated shear-driven liquid films in a flat mini-channel. A detailed map of the flow sub-regimes in a shear-driven liquid film flow of water and FC-72 have been obtained for a 2 mm channel operating at room temperature. While the water film can be smooth under certain liquid/gas flow rates, the surface of an intensively evaporating film of FC-72 is always distorted by a pattern of waves and structures. It was found, that when heated the shear-driven liquid films are less likely to rupture than gravity-driven liquid films. For shear-driven water films the critical heat flux was found of up to 10 times higher than that for a falling film, which makes shear-driven films (annular or stratified two-phase flows) more suitable for cooling applications than falling liquid films.     

The effect of cocurrent and countercurrent gas shear on entrance region mass transfer in turbulent falling liquid films

Predictions of average film thickness and mass transfer coefficients in the entrance region of gas absorption with high cocurrent and countercurrent gas flow in a turbulent falling film are presented. The model used is a modified van Driest eddy diffusivity in the inner wall region and an interface damping eddy diffusivity in the outher region of the film modified to include the effect of interfacial shear. The calculations show that the entrance length for mass transfer decreases with increasing film Reynolds number and interfacial shear for cocurrent flow. Also the model predicts a decrease in mass transfer coefficient with an increase in Schmidt number in accordance with experimental data. On the other hand, for counterflow and at a fixedRe, an increase in upward gas shear increases the film thickness and eventually leads to rising film flow. The entrance length for mass transfer decreases with increasing Reynolds number but slightly increases with countercurrent interfacial shear. The calculations show that, in practice, the entrance region for mass transfer for gas absorption with shear-thinned film can be neglected for cocurrent shear but often cannot be neglected for countercurrent shear with a shear-thickened film.Es werden Berechnungen für die mittlere Film-dicke und die Stoffübertragungs-Koeffizienten in der Eintrittsregion der Gasabsorption mit starkem Gleich- und Gegenstrom von Gas in einem turbulent fließenden Film aufgestellt. Das benutzte Modell ist ein modifizierter van Driest-Wirbel-Diffuser für die Innenwand und ein gedämpfter Grenzflächen-Wirbel-Diffuser in der Außenregion des Filmes, der so modifiziert ist, daß die Effekte der Grenzschichtschubspannungen berücksichtigt werden. Die Berechnungen zeigen, daß die Eintrittslänge für die Stoffübertragung mit zunehmender Grenzflächenschubspannung für Gleichstrom abnimmt. Das Modell sagt ebenso ein Sinken des Stoffübertragungs-Koeffizienten mit einer Zunahme der Schmidt-Zahl in Übereinstimmung mit den experimentellen Daten voraus. Auf der anderen Seite führt im Falle von Gegenstrom und einer konstanten Reynolds-Zahl ein Ansteigen der Gasschubspannung zu einem Anwachsen der Filmdicke und eventuell zu wachsender Filmströmung. Die Eintrittslänge für die Stoffübertragung sinkt mit zunehmender Reynolds-Zahl, steigt aber langsam bei Grenzflächenschubspannungen in Gegenstromrichtung. Die Berechnungen zeigen, daß in der Praxis die Eintrittsregion für die Stoffübertragung bei der Gasabsorption mit verdünntem Film für Gleichstromschubspannung vernachlässigt werden kann, bei Gegenstromschubspannung mit verdicktem Film diese jedoch meist berücksichtigt werden muß.     

A two-parameter model of wave regimes for viscous liquid film flows

Wave regimes of viscous liquid film flows are considered when the viscosity coefficients vary in a wide range. An approximate model system of differential equations with two external governing parameters for the film layer thickness and the local flow rate is derived. The viscous dissipation of a film layer is taken into account in this system more accurately than in the well-known one-parameter Shkadov model. New properties of linear and nonlinear waves caused by the hydrodynamic instability of high-viscous liquid flows under gravity and surface tension are found.     

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.     

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.     

Wave regimes of ascending flow of a thin layer of a viscous liquid in contact with a gas

The flow of a liquid in thin layers is one of the hydrodynamic problems of chemistry and heat engineering. The large surface area of films and their small thickness make it possible to accelerate thermal, diffusive, and chemical processes at the gas-liquid boundary.Theoretical studies of liquid flow in a vertical descending thin layer are presented in [1–4]. In this paper we study ascending wave flows of a liquid in a thin vertical layer in contact with a gas, i.e., flows in the direction opposite the action of the force due to gravity, with account for the action of the gas on the liquid surface. Such motions are encountered when oil is extracted from strata that are saturated with gas. At some distance from the stratum the oil and gas separate: the gas travels at high velocity inside the pipe, occupying a considerable portion of the pipe, and the liquid is displaced toward the pipe walls, forming a thin film. In certain cases a wave-like interface develops between the oil and gas that travels with a velocity greater than that of the liquid but less than the average gas velocity. Similar phenomena are observed in high velocity mass exchangers.We examine the effect of the gas for both laminar and turbulent flow.Studies that neglect the effect of the gas flow on the liquid show that for waves on the film surface whose lengths are considerably longer than the average thickness of the layer, the liquid motion in the film is described by boundary layer equations in which account is taken of the mass force, i.e., the force due to gravity. With some approximation, we can assume that in accounting for the effect of the gas on the liquid the liquid flow is described by these same equations.     

On the nonlinear interfacial instability of rotating core-annual flow

The interfacial stability of rotating core-annular flows is investigated. The linear and nonlinear effects are considered for the case when the annular region is very thin. Both asymptotic and numerical methods are used to solve the flow in the core and film regions which are coupled by a difference in viscosity and density. The long-time behavior of the fluid-fluid interface is determined by deriving its nonlinear evolution in the form of a modified Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation. We obtain a generalization of this equation to three dimensions. The flows considered are applicable to a wide array of physical problems where liquid films are used to lubricate higher- or lower-viscosity core fluids, for which a concentric arrangement is desired. Linearized solutions show that the effects of density and viscosity stratification are crucial to the stability of the interface. Rotation generally destabilizes nonaxisymmetric disturbances to the interface, whereas the centripetal forces tend to stabilize flows in which the film contains the heavier fluid. Nonlinear effects allow finite-amplitude helically traveling waves to exist when the fluids have different viscosities.This research was partially supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA Contract No. NAS1-18605 while the second author was in residence at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE), NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23665. This work was also supported by the Science and Engineering Research Council.     

Global stability of separated flows: subsonic flow past corners

The triple-deck equations for the steady subsonic flow past a convex corner are solved numerically using a novel technique based on Chebychev collocation in the direction normal to the body combined with finite differences in the direction along the flow. The resulting set of nonlinear algebraic equations are solved with Newton linearization and using the GMRES method for the solution of the linear system of equations. The stability of the computed steady flows is then examined using global stability analysis. It is found that for small corner angles, the Tollmien?CSchlichting modes are globally unstable and these persist to larger corner angles. Multiple steady state solutions also exist beyond a critical corner angle but these are globally unstable because of the presence of the Tollmien?CSchlichting modes.     

Thermocapillary convection stability in a cylindrically-symmetric two-phase system

Thermocapillary flows in an infinitely long liquid cylinder surrounded by a coaxial gas layer with a controlled flow rate and the stability of such flows are investigated. In the layers a constant axial temperature gradient is maintained. An exact solution of the equations of motion describing the steady-state flow in this two-phase system is derived. Possible flow regimes and their stability in the linear approximation are studied. It is shown that in the liquid phase the thermocapillary flow can be completely stopped by the gas flow at the expense of the interaction between mechanical stresses at the interface. The results obtained indicate the possibility of controlling thermocapillary flows and their stability by means of gas flows.     

Longitudinal flow characteristics of vertically falling liquid films without concurrent gas flow

Flow characteristics of liquid films vertically falling along the outer wall of a circular tube without concurrent gas flow are experimentally studied, and attention is given to the longitudinally developing liquid film flow in the flow direction. Flow measurements are carried out by the methods of needle contact and electric capacity, and the obtained data are statistically processed.There exists a definite difference in flow characteristics such as wave motion patterns, film thicknesses, critical Reynolds number, and so on, depending strongly on the longitudinal distance in the flow direction as well as the liquid film Reynolds number. Measured probability distributions of interfacial waves can be well expressed by the functions of probability distribution statistically well-known as normal, logarithmic normal and gamma distributions. In terms of these functions, interfacial wave patterns are definitely classified over the whole experimental flow regime. As a rule, interfacial wave motion proceeds vigorously with increases of the longitudinal distance and Reynolds number; however, there exists a flow condition that wave fluctuation never grows up but declines regardless of an increase of Reynolds number.     

On the steady motion of two immiscible fluids in an undulating porous reservoir

We describe steady two-dimensional flows of two immiscible fluids through an undulating porous medium of constant thickness, with impermeable or slightly permeable boundaries. Flows in the same or opposite directions are called, respectively, direct or counter flows. Three special classes of flow are determined:

1. The pressure dominated case occurs for high direct flows and has the interface approximately a constant vertical distance from the impermeable boundaries.
2. The gravity dominated case occurs for low direct flows and has the interface very close to the lower (upper) boundary for downward (upward) sloping boundaries except at crossovers.
3. Counter flows require the interface to decrease in the direction of flow of the lower fluid.

Numerical examples illustrate the three classifications above. For incompressible flows the interface and pressure equations uncouple. A stability analysis shows that the direction of integration of the differential equation for the interface must be opposite to the flow direction for direct flows; for counter flows the direction of integration depends on whether the interface is above or below a critical height. Direct flows through cyclic geometries are asymptotically cyclic upstream. If the reservoir is ‘leaky’, asymptotically self-similar flows result when the (small) permeability ratio is scaled to the dynamical flow parameters.     

Bifurcation of attractor in the falling film problem

Film flows down a vertical plane, the so-called falling films, are covered by waves whose lengths are longer than a threshold value corresponding to neutral stability of the waveless flow. On the other hand, experiments also demonstrate existence of the upper threshold wavelength in unstable interval. This phenomenon is explained through careful analysis of dynamical system modelling the wave dynamics in falling films.     

Gas Flows with Several Thermal Nonequilibrium Modes

We study gas flows with any finite number of thermal nonequilibrium modes. The equations describing such flows are a hyperbolic system with several relaxation equations. An important feature is entropy increase dictated by physics for any irreversible process. Under physical assumptions we obtain properties of thermodynamic variables relevant to stability. By the energy method we prove global existence and uniqueness for the Cauchy problem when the initial data are small perturbations of constant equilibrium states. We give a precise formulation of the fundamental solution for the linearized system, and use it to obtain large time behavior of solutions to the nonlinear system. In particular, we show that the entropy increases but stays bounded. The resulting asymptotic picture of nonequilibrium flows is in a pointwise sense both in space and in time.     

Nonlinear Stability Analysis of Thin Viscoelastic Film Flow Traveling Down along a Vertical Cylinder

This paper investigates the weakly nonlinear stability theoryof a thin viscoelastic liquid film flowing down along the outsidesurface of a vertical cylinder. The long-wave perturbation method isemployed to solve for generalized nonlinear kinematic equations withfree film interface. The normal mode approach is first used to computethe linear stability solution for the film flow. The method of multiplescales is then used to obtain the weak nonlinear dynamics of the filmflow for stability analysis. The modeling results indicate that both thesubcritical instability and supercritical stability conditions arepossible to occur in a viscoelastic film flow system. The degree ofinstability in the film flow is further intensified by the lateralcurvature of cylinder. This is somewhat different from that of theplanar flow. The modeling results also indicate that by increasing theviscoelastic effect and decreasing the radius of the cylinder the filmflow can become less stable as traveling down along the verticalcylinder.     

Simultaneous heat and mass transfer inside a vertical tube in evaporating a heated falling alcohols liquid film into a stream of dry air

A numerical study of the evaporation in mixed convection of a pure alcohol liquid film: ethanol and methanol was investigated. It is a turbulent liquid film falling on the internal face of a vertical tube. A laminar flow of dry air enters the vertical tube at constant temperature in the downward direction. The wall of the tube is subjected to a constant and uniform heat flux. The model solves the coupled parabolic governing equations in both phases including turbulent liquid film together with the boundary and interfacial conditions. The systems of equations obtained by using an implicit finite difference method are solved by TDMA method. A Van Driest model is adopted to simulate the turbulent liquid film flow. The influence of the inlet liquid flow, Reynolds number in the gas flow and the wall heat flux on the intensity of heat and mass transfers are examined. A comparison between the results obtained for studied alcohols and water in the same conditions is made.     

Effects of inertia and surface tension on a power-law fluid flowing down a wavy incline

We consider a thin film of a power-law liquid flowing down an inclined wall with sinusoidal topography. Based on the von Kármán–Pohlhausen method an integral boundary-layer model for the film thickness and the flow rate is derived. This allows us to study the influence of the non-Newtonian properties on the steady free surface deformation. For weakly undulated walls we solve the governing equation analytically by a perturbation approach and find a resonant interaction of the free surface with the wavy bottom. Furthermore, the analytical approximation is validated by numerical simulations. Increasing the steepness of the wall reveals that nonlinear effects like the resonance of higher harmonics grow in importance. We find that shear-thickening flows lead to a decrease while shear thinning flows lead to an amplification of the steady free surface. A linear stability analysis of the steady state shows that the bottom undulation has in most cases a stabilizing influence on the free surface. Shear thickening fluids enhance this effect. The open questions which occurred in the linear analysis are then clarified by a nonlinear stability analysis. Finally, we show the important role of capillarity and discuss its influence on the steady solution and on the stability.     

Stability and nonlinear wavy regimes in downward film flows on a corrugated surface

The linear and nonlinear stability of downward viscous film flows on a corrugated surface to freesurface perturbations is analyzed theoretically. The study is performed with the use of an integral approach in ranges of parameters where the calculated results and the corresponding solutions of Navier-Stokes equations (downward wavy flow on a smooth wall and waveless flow along a corrugated surface) are in good agreement. It is demonstrated that, for moderate Reynolds numbers, there is a range of corrugation parameters (amplitude and period) where all linear perturbations of the free surface decay. For high Reynolds numbers, the waveless downward flow is unstable. Various nonlinear wavy regimes induced by varying the corrugation amplitude are determined. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 110–120, January–February, 2007.