Condensation process and phase-change in the presence of obstacles inside a minichannel

Abstract

In this paper, the condensation process, dynamic behaviour of fluid and phase-change inside a minichannel in the presence of square blocks are investigated numerically. The blocks are placed inside the minichannel with a tandem arrangement. The analysis is performed by using the lattice Boltzmann method based on the pseudo potential model. Fluid–fluid and fluid–surface interactions are fully considered in this model. Beside this, image processing is used to perform the validation and grid independent study. The effects of the distance between the blocks (D), the number of block (N) and the vertical blockage ratio (Z) on the condensation and nucleation processes are explored in details. The simulations are performed for different values of vertical blockage ratio ( $$0.05 \le Z \le 0.8$$ ), number of block ( $$0 \le N \le 4$$ ), and distance between the blocks (10Lu < D < 20Lu). It was found that the maximum value of the required time to transfer all the liquid phase to the bottom wall of the channel is occurred for the case of blocked channel. Moreover, the blocked channel phenomenon may be controlled with increase in N (number of block).