Heat Transfer in Thin Liquid Films.

Abstract

Abstract : The objective of this summer research was to examine heat transfer in thin liquid films. A successful formulation was accomplished on the effect of electrostatic field on the stability of isothermal non-evaporating thin films and on the heat transfer in evaporating thin films. Here, the coupling of the electrostatic field with the fluid dynamics was accomplished through the interfacial boundary condition only. The weakness of this approach lies in the fact that the body forces due to the electrical field are ignored in the equation of motion and the work terms are not included in the conservation law for energy balance. Lastly, a general formulation including the electric field and Van der Waals forces between a solid surface and the fluid in the Navier Stokes equation was written but not applied to a particular geometry. A thorough literature search reveals that analysis that includes these effects has not been undertaken until now. The governing equations for the fluid as well as the electrical field are given for the previously mentioned two problems.