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Jakub Devera∗1
1 ČVUT v Praze, Fakulta strojní, Technická 4, 166 07 Praha 6, Česká republika
Abstract
Experimental study deals with two cases of low speed flow in horizontal rectangular duct with mass transfer from thin
water film in regime of mixed convection: Grm /Re2 > 10 and 0.1 > Grm /Re2 < 10. Measured water evaporation rate
is for both cases compared with correlations found in literature. Discussed is also when the contribution of natural
or forced convection can be neglected. For case Grm /Re2 > 10, vertical temperature field was measured. Forced
convection flow combined with buoyancy induced secondary flow leaded to 3D complex flow with stationary reversed
flow below the top desk. Highest temperature fluctuations was measured above the fluid film.
Key-words: mixed convection, mass transfer, evaporation, experiment, criterion equation
1. Introduction
ṁwv = ṁda (xout − xin ) (2)
Evaporative processes plays important role in many
industrial applications (chemical vapour deposition
reactors, evaporative cooling, nuclear spent-fuel dis- To correctly evaluate the evaporation rate, the
assembly basin loses etc.). Due to complexity of the test section of the experimental set-up has to meet
phenomena and geometries, solutions based on crite- requirement on change of specific humidity. If the
rion equations are limited to simplified cases only and change would be very small, the error of measurement
methods using CFD (Computational fluid dynamics) could be very high. On the other hand, the airflow
modelling are being introduced. Problem of such a could become supersaturated, which is the state of
models is that the usage is not universal and they moist air that can not be measured by chosen humid-
have to be validated with experimental measurement. ity sensors - psychrometers. The design stage of the
For validation purposes, an experimental rig was de- test rig was covered in [1].
signed and built. The details of design of the test rig Schematic of apparatus is shown in fig. 1. The
was described in [1]. As validation case, convective water tank’s area used for measurements has dimen-
mass transfer from water film placed in rectangular sions of 1000mm x 300mm. The tank is heated by
duct was selected, the water film is evaporating to resistance heating foils located at the bottom and
low speed airflow. on sides of the water tank with possible regulation
The aim of this study is to compare obtained data of input power for maintaining the water at steady
from measurement with correlations of researchers, temperature. To create a water film, thin aluminium
who studied this topic to make sure that measure- plate is dipped into the tank with 18 digital ther-
ments were correct. mometers Dallas Ds18b20 mounted on the bottom of
The conditions in the channel: airflow with hot the plate to monitor the temperature. The sensors
water film at the bottom creates mixed convection are located in a grid of 3x6 for evaluation of unifor-
flow, which can be characterized by ratio Grm /Re2 . mity of temperature’s horizontal stratification. The
Grm is Grashof mass transfer number and Re stands air flow is straighten by a nozzle.
for Reynolds number. In section 2, mass transfer with Specific humidity is measured by psychrome-
ratio Grm /Re2 > 10 is examined, section 3 is about ters, each one consists of two sheathed RTD probes
(PT1000) - wet and dry thermometer. The wet ther-
mass transfer with ratio Grm /Re2 ∈ (0.1; 10). mometer is wrapped by a moisten sock (by distilled
water). Two psychrometers are located in outlet pipe
2. Mixed convection with Grm /Re2 > 10 for measuring the outlet specific humidity, velocities
in the pipe are sufficient to ensure right function of
Opposite to the experiments found in the literature wet bulb thermometer. Psychrometer measuring inlet
[2, 3], where balances are used for measurement of specific humidity is located above the entrance of the
depletion of water due to evaporation during 24 hour nozzle and the air current for wet-bulb thermometer
period, a psychrometric method for measurement of is propelled by external fan.
evaporation rate is used for this purpose. The evapo- The mass flow rate is measured by orifice plate.
ration rate is evaluated from the difference of specific Orifice plate is a thin plate with a hole in it, cen-
humidity of passing air stream over hot water film. tred rounded in this application, designed by CSN EN
Conservation of mass must be valid in the test sec- ISO 5167-2 [4]. It is used for reducing static pressure,
tion: which is measured by differential pressure transducer
Setra 265. The orifice plate is located in the outlet
pipe (fig. 1). The pressure drop was designed to 85Pa
ṁda (1 + xin ) + ṁwv = ṁda (1 + xout ) (1) for velocity 0.1m · s−1 in the test section (due to con-
from which, the evaporation rate ṁwv can be ex- traction after the test section, the velocity in front of
pressed: the orifice plate is approx. 4.6m · s−1 ).
∗
Kontakt na autora: jakub.devera@fs.cvut.cz
Studentská tvůrčí činnost 2017 | České vysoké učení technické v Praze | Fakulta strojní
Before each measurement, water containers for moist- Dry-bulb thermometer average
Temperature [°C]
Laminar
Laminar saturation point
Turbulent
Turbulent saturation point
Experimental data
3
40 50 60
Temperature of the plate [°C]
4
40 60
Temperature of the plate [°C] Fig. 4. Results of evaporation rate measurement with
comparison with criterion eq. for flow rate 10g/s
Fig. 3. Experimental data measured during half-year pe-
riod
10-5 Evaporation rate, inlet mass flow rate = 15g/s
13
To be able of identifying the dependency od evap-
oration rate on water temperature, it is necessary to
separate the effect of different inlet conditions. This
Evaporation rate [kg/s]
Comparison of the solution is in fig. 6. Worst for reaching thermal stability before actual measure-
results are obtained with usage of equation (9). The ment of temperature. Then, in Matlab, data were
smallest difference between measured data and cal- averaged, merged and interpolated on the measure-
culation is with use of equation (10) combined with ment grid.
equation (7) (criterion equation for Sherwood number Two regime were examined, with heated water
for free convection in turbulent regime) and with use film (variant denoted as "moist") and variant with
of equation (9) combined with equation (6) (criterion only a heated plate without the film (denoted as
equation for Sherwood number for free convection in "dry"). The motivation was using single-component
laminar regime). Since Grm · Sc > 2 · 107 , which fluids in CFD, thus it was necessary to determine,
means turbulent natural convection, equation (8) or how big temperature difference the water vapour
(10) should be used. cause. Only mass flow rate of 10g/s was measured.
10-5 Test of equations for diffusion coefficient 2.4. Results and discussion
c.
c.
Results from the measurement are in fig. 7 and 8,
13
nt
nt
le
le
bu
bu
,t
,t
8)
9)
Eq
Evaporation rate [kg/s]
Eq
na
rc
. 17°C. The temperature field of both variants ("moist"
ar
c.
0)
, la
mi
and "dry") has very similar characteristic in both
8
(9)
, la
mi
n
rc
. Eq
.(
1
cases and is strongly influenced by the natural con-
Eq
.
(8)
, lam
ina
vection. The peak of the stream’s core is shifted to-
Eq
.
ward the heated plate, which caused very steep tem-
rbu
len
t c. perature gradient above the heated plate / hot fluid
Eq. (
10 ), tu film. The heated region below the top desk steps
in to area <-300mm; 0mm> (in upwind direction).
Experimental data
3
40 50 60
That is caused by reversed flow along the top sur-
face. The flow reversal makes the fluid in the upper
Temperature of the plate [°C]
Fig. 6. Comparison of calculation of evaporation rate us- region hotter than that below due to the convective
ing different equations for diffusion coefficient, ṁ = 15g/s heat transfer from the downstream fluid. This corre-
sponds to conclusions of researchers studied this topic
Further research in diffusion coefficient would be (mixed convection flow with Gr/Re2 > 10), mostly
needed for precise evaluation of evaporation rate, be- interested only in velocity field. In majority of ex-
cause the solution is very dependant on it and in lit- perimental studies, as fluid, water is used. Numer-
erature exists several relationships and correlations. ically was carried out studies both for Pr=0.7 and
But for that, more data would be needed to be sure Pr=5, approximately equally. Two explanation of the
that the problem is not in other area. But solution shifted core and backflow are mentioned:
using equation (8) is quite precise in case of flow rate 1. In [11] is concluded that fluid in lower part is
of 10g/s. In the future, it would be interesting the hotter due to the heated plate, which leads to
measure also higher flow rates and see, if higher veloc- decrease of viscosity of the fluid. As conse-
ity, still in regime of natural convection, would have quence reduction of flow resistance arrived in
any effect on evaporation rate. But for verification lower region and hence, higher velocity. To sat-
whether the data was measured correctly, such com- isfy conservation of mass, velocity has to be de-
parison was sufficient. creased in the upper part.
2. In [12] is the asymmetry of the velocity pro-
2.3. Temperature field measurement file attributed to rising plumes and falling fluid
parcels creating vertical motions which creates
Second part of validation procedure was investiga- positive streamwise pressure gradient. The
tion of convective flow field. Air flow starts to inter- crossflow motion accelerates the axial flow in
act with the buoyancy driven secondary flow (term the lower half and retards it in the upper re-
Poiseuille-Benard flow is used in [10]), which leads to gion.
a complex 3D flow behaviour. Due to low velocities
in the test rig, around 0.1 ms , theirs measurement is Obtained temperature fields are opposite to the
quite problematic, only sophisticated method can be first statement, the fluid is hotter in the upper part.
used: LDA or PIV, but several other problems exist The asymmetry and reversed flow is more likely to be
such as fogging of the plexiglas in the bottom half of a product of complicated 3D flow behaviour because
test section due to evaporation and large area which of buoyancy forces.
has to be traversed. Main differences between temperature field with
Instead of velocity field, temperature field was and without evaporation is in upper region. Differ-
chosen for the comparison. 10 thermocouples, type ences are also at heigh of 10mm, but there is problem
K, were used for the measurement. Data were ac- with steep temperature gradient, where even a small
quired via National Instruments’s DAQ system com- displacement of the probe can cause an error in order
bined with Matlab. Probes are mounted to a stand, of degrees. The fluid is enhanced by the hot water
located one above each other as a vertical line probe vapour, which leads to the increase of the tempera-
in a distance of 31mm. Lowest probe was at height ture.
of 10mm, highest was at height of 290mm. Measure- The signal from the probes was almost stable in
ments were conducted in streamwise vertical plane, both cases ("moist" and "dry") see fig. 9 and 10
examined area was plane starting 300mm in front of except the lowest thermocouple, 10mm. The temper-
the fluid film and ending 200mm behind the fluid film ature at that height is fluctuating, the changes are
(1500mm x 280 mm). To cover whole area, traversing almost 5°C for the "moist" case, 2°C for the "dry".
with a stand is needed. In each position, it was waited At height of 41mm above the surface, the signal was
Studentská tvůrčí činnost 2017 | České vysoké učení technické v Praze | Fakulta strojní
much less transient, fluctuations was around 0.5°C for height was subjected the to spectral analysis using
both cases. Fast-Fourier transformation, but any dominant fre-
The "moist" temperature signal from 10mm quency wasn’t discovered.
Fig. 7. Vertical temperature field measurement 1: up - moist variant (water film as boundary), middle - dry variant
(heated plate as boundary), down - temperature difference between the two variants
Fig. 8. Vertical temperature field measurement 2: up - moist variant (water film as boundary), middle - dry variant
(heated plate as boundary), down - temperature difference between the two variants
Studentská tvůrčí činnost 2017 | České vysoké učení technické v Praze | Fakulta strojní
28 28
27 27
26 26
Probe at height: Probe at height:
Temperature [°C]
Temperature [°C]
25 10mm 25 10mm
41mm 41mm
24 103mm 24 103mm
165mm 165mm
23 228mm 23 228mm
290mm 290mm
22 22
21 21
20 20
19 19
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Time [s] Time [s]
Fig. 9. Temperature fluctuations at x=500mm for moist Fig. 10. Temperature fluctuations at x=500mm for dry
variant (water film as boundary) variant (heated plate as boundary)
Results from the two measurements show that ne- psychrometric method can’t be used. It was decided
glecting evaporation and solving the problem only as to measure evaporation rate optically. It was neces-
single-component fluid could cause an error of 2-3 °C sary to overcome several difficulties: First is to ensure
that spherical cup is not created instead of flat wa-
in calculation of temperature field. Also show a com- ter surface. It is necessary to have clean solid surface
plex flow behaviour with creation of reversed flow and use distilled water. Second issue is how to cap-
below the top desk, transient above the water film ture the water film with camera. At first, coloured
surface. In case of only heated plate, the transient water combined with photo camera was tested, but
behaviour was smaller. results weren’t good. Then, thermocamera FLIR was
used. The water film was captured very good, but it
was necessary to find a material transparent for the
3. Mixed convection with 0.1 > camera, because the rig has to be closed. Food foil
was used. The optical method, before the measure-
Grm /Re2 < 10 ment, was also compared with external balances with
readability 0.1g. The deviation of values obtained by
For second test case, water tank was removed and re- optical method and by balances was ∆mmax ≈ 0.1g,
placed by a stand with cone hole at the top. Water, which is in order of the reading error.
heated to a defined temperature, is flowing around the The airflow above the stand with film has the
inner wall of the stand. The stand is made from dura- same flow rates is in previous case (ṁ = 10g/s and
lumin and with wall thickness of 1.5mm. The heating ṁ = 15g/s)
provides uniform temperature stratification on the These low flow rates combined with small di-
surface of the stand (necessary for future comparison ameter of the water film of high temperature leads
with CFD results). The water is heated by electric to mixed convection regime with ratio Grm /Re2 ∈
flow-heater (3kW input power) controlled by PID reg- (0.1; 10) thus neither contribution of natural or forced
ulator using solid state relay. Input to the regulator is convection can’t be neglected. The Sherwood number
from thermocouple, type K inserted to pipeline. The is then calculated as [6]:
circuit is propelled by circulation pump. The modi-
fied apparatus is shown in fig 11. 1/n
Shmixed = Shnfree + Shnforced (11)
According to [2, 3], n ∈ (1; 2) for mass transfer
and it is function of Grm /Re2 and in each paper, ex-
perimental correlation is introduced. Presented case
is problematic, because diameter of the film is chang-
ing during the measurement. Since the diameter is in
Re and Grm on different order, the ratio Grm /Re2
is also changing during the measurement. The evap-
oration rate is changing as well. The mathematical
model was modified to cover the changes of water
surface thanks to known dimensions of the cone hole.
The schematic diagram is in fig. 12.
At first, the initial diameter is set according ex-
perimental data. From the diameter, height and mass
of the film is calculated. Then dimensionless num-
bers (Re, Sc, Grm ), from criterion equations Sher-
wood number for free, laminar and forced, laminar
convection form which Sh number for mixed convec-
tion is interpolated. From Sh, mass transfer coeffi-
Fig. 11. Rig modification cient β is evaluated and evaporation rate is establish.
Per given time-step (in range of seconds), evaporated
mass is calculated, from which depletion of height is
Evaporation rate from the water film is very small determined. With new height, new radius is set and
(maximum diameter is 35mm) so above presented the loop is running till mres −→ 0.
Studentská tvůrčí činnost 2017 | České vysoké učení technické v Praze | Fakulta strojní
0.543 − 0.408 · ln Grm /Re2 + 0.0826 ·
2
ln Grm /Re2
Cup evaporation, t film =55°C, mass flow rate = 10g/s Cup evaporation, t film =60°C, mass flow rate = 15g/s
100 100
Experimental data Experimental data
90 Mathematical model, n=1 90 Mathematical model, n=1
Mathematical model, n=2 Mathematical model, n=2
80 Mathematical model, n=f(Gr m /Re2 ) [2] 80 Mathematical model, n=f(Gr m /Re2 ) [2]
Mathematical model, n=f(Gr m /Re2 ) [3] Mathematical model, n=f(Gr m /Re2 ) [3]
70 70
% of mass residuum
% of mass residuum
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time [min] Time [min]
Fig. 14. Depletion of mass by time, Tf ilm = 55°C, Fig. 17. Depletion of mass by time, Tf ilm = 60°C,
ṁ = 10g/s ṁ = 15g/s
surement of temperature field is planned. [2] Michael T. Pauken. “An experimental investigation
of combined turbulent free and forced evaporation”.
In: Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science (1998).
Nomenclature [3] Amid Jodat. “An experimental study of ability of
similarity theory to predict water evaporation rate
for different convection regimes”. In: International
journal of multidisciplinary sciences and engineer-
D diffusion coefficient (m2 /s) ing (2012).
ṁ mass flow rate (kg/s) [4] ČSN EN ISO 5167-2. Měření průtoku tekutin po-
n coefficient (1) mocí snímačů diferenčního tlaku vložených do zcela
p pressure (Pa) zaplněného potrubí kruhového průřezu - Část 2:
p00 saturated vapour pressure (Pa) Clony. Praha: Úřad pro technickou normalizaci,
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isbn: 1-59370-019-9.
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tals of heat and mass transfer. 7th ed. Hoboken, NJ:
Gr Grashof number (1) Wiley, 2011. isbn: 978-0470-50197-9.
GrmGrashof mass transfer number (1) [7] S. M. Elsherbiny, M. A. Teamah, and A. R. Moussa.
P r Prandtl number (1) Experimental mixed convection heat transfer from
Re Reynolds number (1) an isothermal horizontal square cylinder. Experi-
Ri Richardson number (1) mental Thermal and Fluid Science, 2016.
Sc Schmidt number (1) [8] Pavel Šafařík and Magda Vestfálová. Termody-
Sh Sherwood number (1)
namika vlhkého vzduchu. ČVUT, 2016. isbn: 978-
da dry air (1) 80-01-06020-9.
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in inlet (1) extraction. McGraw-Hill, 1952.
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wb wet-bulb thermometer (1) flow. International Journal of Thermal Sciences,
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[11] Ahmed ELATAR and Kamran SIDDIQUI. The ef-
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