The numerical computation of the evaporative cooling of falling water film in turbulent mixed convection inside a vertical tube

An analysis has been developed for studying the evaporative cooling of liquid film falling inside a vertical insulated tube in turbulent gas stream is presented. Heat and mass transfer characteristics in air-water system are mainly considered. A low Reynolds number turbulence model of Launder and Sharma is used to simulate the turbulent gas stream and a modified Van Driest model suggested by Yih and Liu is adopted to simulate the turbulent liquid film. The model predictions are first compared with available experimental data for the purpose of validating the model. Parametric computations were performed to investigate the effects of Reynolds number, inlet liquid temperature and inlet liquid mass flow rate on the liquid film cooling mechanism. Results show that significant liquid cooling results for the system with a higher gas flow Reynolds number Re, a lower liquid flow rate Gamma(0) or a higher inlet liquid temperature T-L0. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.