Correlations of falling film hydrodynamics and heat transfer on horizontal tubes: A review

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Falling film flow and heat transfer are extensively encountered in various industries of renewable and sustainable energy due to the outstanding heat transfer performance. The predictions in falling film hydrodynamics and heat transfer are crucial for the optimal design of falling film heat exchangers, and there have been considerable advancements made in this area over the past few decades. Considering the gaps in current literature predictions, this paper aims to present a comprehensive review on the correlations of flow pattern transition, film thickness, heat transfer, and liquid film rupture within falling film flowing over horizontal tubes and tube bundles. Through comparisons and summarizations, it can be found that the documented correlations appear to be significantly out of alignment with one another, which greatly restricts the applicability of these predictions. The correlations of falling film thickness that are obtained using regression approach based on dimensional analysis may take into account more factors than the ones modified from Nusselt theory. The predictions of flow pattern transition of falling liquid film with horizontal column are often described as the functions of the film Reynolds number, derived from the Kapitza number or the Galileo number. The functions of Nusselt number, film Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and Archimedes number are typically used to represent sensible and evaporative heat transfer correlations, whereas boiling heat transfer correlations also take into account the influence of heat flux, such as Boiling number. The full process of actual heat transfer is taken into account from both the standpoints of sensible convection and nucleate boiling using the combination functions of various heat transfer forms. Within the ranges of their own parameters, the well-established heat transfer models often offer good accuracy. While the predictions of phase change heat transfer often behave worse, the predictions of sensible heat transfer are more general and accurate. Generally speaking, the minimum film flow rate or the maximum heat flux were the functions that correlated with the inceptions of liquid film rupture.