Heat Transfer Coefficients and Lifetimes of Micro-Droplet Evaporation in the Transition Regime

Abstract

The goal of the present work is to determine the heat transfer characteristics of evaporating micro-droplets of water from a hot surface. To accomplish this, a one-dimensional, finite-difference model is used to simulate the transport of water vapor and energy from the droplet’s liquid-vapor interface toward and inside the hemispherical, gaseous region surrounding the droplet. The model incorporates a transition regime correction to the kinetic theory evaporative mass flux. The transition regime correction, a multiplier applied to the kinetic flux, is a function of the Knudsen number, the ratio of molecular mean free path to the droplet radius. The transition regime encompasses droplet sizes for which neither the kinetic model of evaporation nor the hydrodynamic continuum theory is entirely appropriate. The model simulates the liquid phase as one-dimensional conduction between the hot surface and the liquid-vapor interface. Previously, we validated our model against measured volume data as a function of time for several evaporating droplets. Using the model, overall heat transfer coefficients and total evaporation times are determined. Linear fits of both are provided against dimensional groupings of initial droplet volume and surface temperature superheat.