Evaporation of a liquid, initiated by condensation of vapor on its surface

The paper considers mechanisms of initiation of liquid evaporation by contact with hot vapor (with temperature greater and much greater than the temperature of liquid). Two fundamentally different mechanisms of such initiation are distinguished - equilibrium and non-equilibrium. The process of non-equilibrium initiation of evaporation by hot vapor was studied using the method of molecular dynamics; the results agree with the theoretical estimate given in the work for determining the temperature of the beginning of the non-equilibrium mechanism of evaporation initiation.

A spontaneously sustainable bioinspired interfacial evaporation driven power generation strategy

In nature, liquid evaporation occurs everywhere all the time. This low-grade energy absorption to drive liquid evaporation is greatly potential for sustainable spontaneously power generation. Here, a natural liquid evaporation strategy of interfacial evaporation driven nanogenerator (IENG) is developed in this work. Coupled by the phonon wind and a fluctuating Coulomb field, an induced direct current is generated. Simultaneously, inspired by the light-trapping properties of moth eye, a simple and efficient BLT-IENG including a hierarchical surface of bionic light-trapping and electrospinning perovskite conductivity with an enhanced thermally insulating and water storage capability is designed. This enhancement of the output performance is greatly attributed to the improvement of the interfacial evaporation characteristics driven by natural solar and wind energies. Hence, our BLT-IENG achieves a breakthrough in the unit area open-circuit voltage in the marine environment, which is improved by a factor of 7.6 over the currently reported average value. This work provides an unexplored strategy for multi-energies inspired natural interfacial evaporation driven power generation.

Review of Convective Heat Transfer Modelling in CFD Simulations of Fire-Driven Flows

Progress in fire safety science strongly relies on the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate a wide range of scenarios, involving complex geometries, multiple length/time scales and multi-physics (e.g., turbulence, combustion, heat transfer, soot generation, solid pyrolysis, flame spread and liquid evaporation), that could not be studied easily with analytical solutions and zone models. It has been recently well recognised in the fire community that there is need for better modelling of the physics in the near-wall region of boundary layer combustion. Within this context, heat transfer modelling is an important aspect since the fuel gasification rate for solid pyrolysis and liquid evaporation is determined by a heat feedback mechanism that depends on both convection and radiation. The paper focuses on convection and reviews the most commonly used approaches for modelling convective heat transfer with CFD using Large Eddy Simulations (LES) in the context of fire-driven flows. The considered test cases include pool fires and turbulent wall fires. The main assumptions, advantages and disadvantages of each modelling approach are outlined. Finally, a selection of numerical results from the application of the different approaches in pool fire and flame spread cases, is presented in order to demonstrate the impact that convective heat transfer modelling can have in such scenarios.

SIMILARITY SOLUTION OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER FOR LIQUID EVAPORATION ALONG A VERTICAL PLATE COVERED WITH A THIN POROUS LAYER

In this paper, heat and mass transfer for liquid evaporation along a vertical plate covered with a thin porous layer has been investigated. The continuity, momentum, energy and mass balance equations, which are coupled nonlinear partial differential equations are reduced to a set of two nonlinear ordinary differential equations and solved analytically and numerically by using the shooting technique in MATLAB. The effect of various parameters like the Froude number, the porosity, the Darcy number, the Prandtl number, the Lewis number and the driving parameters on the temperature and concentration profiles are presented and discussed. It is viewed that the heat transfer performance is enhanced by the presence of a porous layer. The local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood numbers are computed and analyzed both numerically and graphically.

Construction of Exact Solution Describing Three-layer Flows with Evaporation in a Horizontal Channel

The paper considers the flow in a three-layer system "liquid–liquid–gas" in a horizontal chan- nel with solid impermeable walls.The evaporation process at the thermocapillary interface of the liquid and gas is taken into account. The Soret and Dufour effects are taken into account in the upper layer filled with a gas-vapor mixture. The system of Navier-Stokes equations in the Boussinesq approximation is used as a mathematical model. A temperature regime is set on the channel walls. Liquid evaporation is modeled using the conditions at the liquid-gas interface. Exact solution of a special type describing the flow in a three-layer system is constructed. The velocity profiles are presented on the example of the "silicone oil–water–air" system for various values of gas flow rate, longitudinal temperature gradients at the system boundaries, thicknesses of liquid and gas-vapor layers

A Two-Parameter Corresponding States Method for Calculating the Steady-State Evaporation Rate of C2–C9 n-Alkane Droplets in Air for Elevated Pressures and Temperatures

Advanced gas turbine and internal combustion engine combustion chambers operate at highly elevated pressures and temperatures. Therefore, spray vaporization analysis cannot be limited to the atmospheric environment since evaporation strongly depends on ambient conditions. Presently, the effect of air pressure and temperature on droplet evaporation rate was investigated by using both a transient and a steady-state approach. A corresponding states model was derived for the steady-state evaporation rate for n-alkanes in the range of C2–C9 with an excellent fit quality and < 1% model uncertainty, considering the thermophysical data uncertainties. The model was tested for C1, C10, and C12 n-alkanes as well with low success. The ambient conditions were evaluated in terms of reduced pressures and temperatures, covering the range of 0.02–0.5 and 1.2–1.5, respectively. However, the applicability of the model was limited to reduced temperature of 1.3–1.5, as higher discrepancy was observed between the trends of the different n-alkanes at lower temperatures. Since the heat-up phase of practical sprays in combustion chambers is often short, the present model might significantly reduce the computational effort required for liquid evaporation calculations.