Evaporation of Water Droplets Placed on a Heated Horizontal Surface

A numerical analysis of the evaporation process of small water droplets with diameters of 1 mm or less that are gently deposited on a hot isothermal solid surface has been performed. This study considers the internal fluid motion that occurs as a result of the thermocapillary convection in the droplet and it determines the effect of fluid motion on the heat transfer between the drop and the solid surface. This study is particularly relevant because the internal fluid motion has not been considered in previous numerical and analytical models presented in the literature. To assess the effects of internal fluid motion, the model results are compared to numerical results provided by a heat conduction model that neglects the fluid motion. The Navier-Stokes and Thermal Energy equations are solved using the Artificial Compressibility Method with Dual Time Stepping. Boundary-fitted grids are used to track the changes in the droplet surface shape during the evaporation process. The numerical simulations have demonstrated that the internal fluid motion provides vastly different temperature distributions in the drop compared to the results from the heat conduction model that neglects fluid motion. The evolution of the droplet geometry was simulated from an initial spherical-shaped cap until the contact angle was close to the receding contact angle.