Mass Accommodation Coefficient Of Water Research Articles

A new microlayer depletion model for numerical simulation of bubble growth during nucleate boiling

In this study, a new microlayer depletion model was developed to simulate bubble growth during the nucleate boiling of water and ethanol. By improving the coupled volume-of-fluid and level set model, the macro-two-phase flow was accurately tracked, eliminating velocity jumps at the interface. The proposed model was validated against pool boiling measurements in water and ethanol at atmospheric pressure. The results demonstrated that the microlayer contributed approximately 15 and 33.17 % to the growth of water and ethanol bubbles, respectively. Under the influence of the interfacial temperature, the mass accommodation coefficient of water could vary from 0.004 to 0.027. Considering the impact of the interfacial temperature on the mass accommodation coefficient could reduce the prediction error of the evaporative thermal resistance from 17.2 to 4.67 %. Furthermore, the study revealed that the evaporative thermal resistance of the water is comparable to the microlayer conductive thermal resistance, whereas the maximum evaporative thermal resistance of ethanol is less than 5 % of the microlayer conductive thermal resistance and can be neglected.

Effects of Organic Surface Contamination on the Mass Accommodation Coefficient of Water: A Molecular Dynamics Study.

The mass accommodation coefficient (MAC), a parameter that quantifies the possibility of a phase change to occur at a liquid-vapor interface, can strongly affect the evaporation and condensation rates at a liquid surface. Due to the various challenges in experimental determination of the MAC, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been widely used to study the MAC on liquid surfaces with no impurities or contaminations. However, experimental studies show that airborne hydrocarbons from various sources can adsorb on liquid surfaces and alter the liquid surface properties. In this work, therefore, we study the effects of organic surface contamination, which is immiscible with water, on the MAC of water by equilibrium and nonequilibrium MD simulations. The equilibrium MD simulation results show that the MAC decreases almost linearly with increasing surface coverage of the organic contaminants. With the MAC determined from EMD simulations, the nonequilibrium MD simulation results show that the Schrage equation, which has been proven to be accurate in predicting the evaporation/condensation rates on clean liquid surfaces, is also accurate in predicting the condensation rate at contaminated water surfaces. The key assumption about the molecular velocity distribution in the Schrage analysis is still valid for condensing vapor molecules near contaminated water surfaces. We also find that under nonequilibrium conditions the adsorption of the water vapor molecules on the organic surface results in an adsorption vapor flux near the contaminated water surface. When the water surface is almost fully covered by the model organic contaminants, the adsorption flux dominates over the water condensation flux and leads to a false prediction of the MAC from the Schrage equation.

Unexpected concentration dependence of the mass accommodation coefficient of water on aqueous triethylene glycol droplets.

The mass accommodation coefficient αM of water on aqueous triethylene glycol droplets was determined for water mole fractions in the range xmol = 0.1-0.93 and temperatures between 21 and 26 °C from modulated Mie scattering measurement on single optically-trapped droplets in combination with a kinetic multilayer model. αM reaches minimum values around 0.005 at a critical water concentration of xmol = 0.38, and increases with decreasing water content to a value of ≈0.1 for almost pure triethylene glycol droplets, essentially independent of the temperature. Above xmol = 0.38, αM first increases with increasing water content and then stabilises at a value of ≈0.1 at the lowest temperatures, while at the highest temperature its value remains around 0.005. We analysed the unexpected concentration and temperature dependence with a previously proposed two-step model for mass accommodation which provides concentration and temperature-dependent activation enthalpies and entropies. We suggest that the unexpected minimum in αM at intermediate water concentrations might arise from a more or less saturated hydrogen-bond network that forms at the droplet surface.

Mass Accommodation of Water on Ice at Environmentally Relevant Temperatures: Insights from Fast Scanning Calorimetry.

Using a conceptually simple, quasi-adiabatic, fast scanning calorimetry technique, we have investigated the sublimation kinetics of ice films with thicknesses ranging from 14 to 400 nm at environmentally relevant temperatures, between 223 and 268 K. The technique enables accurate determination of ice sublimation rates into vacuum under the conditions of free molecular flow during rapid yet quasistatic heating. The measured sublimation fluxes yield the vapor pressure of the ice samples, which is indistinguishable from that derived from experiments under near-equilibrium conditions. Thus, in agreement with the microscopic reversibility principle, we conclude that the mass accommodation coefficient of water by ice is unity and temperature-independent in the temperature range of the studies. We discuss these findings in the context of current computational and theoretical research into the chemistry and physics of aqueous interfaces.

Mass Accommodation Coefficients of Water on Organics from Complementary Photoacoustic and Light Scattering Measurements on Laser-Trapped Droplets

The mass accommodation coefficient, $\alpha_M$, describes evaporation and condensation kinetics at the liquid-vapor interface. In spite of numerous experimental efforts, reliable values of $\alpha_M$ are still not available for many substances. Here, we present a novel experimental technique, photothermal single-particle spectroscopy (PSPS), that allows for a robust retrieval of mass accommodation coefficients from three simultaneous independent measurements. PSPS combines resonant photoacoustic absorption spectroscopy with modulated Mie scattering measurements on single particles. We study the mass transport of water on organic aerosol droplets that are optically trapped using counter-propagating tweezers. We find the mass accommodation coefficient of water on a pure model organic that is fully miscible with water to be 0.021 at 296K, and to decrease by more than an order of magnitude when the temperature increases to 309K. The experimentally observed temperature dependence of $\alpha_M$ shows an Arrheni...

Carbon Density Is an Indicator of Mass Accommodation Coefficient of Water on Organic-Coated Water Surface.

The condensational growth of a water droplet follows water vapor accommodation and is described by the mass accommodation coefficient, α. To determine α for droplets coated by straight chain and branched alcohols, we perform molecular dynamics simulations with umbrella sampling and direct impinging. The free energy profiles of water from gas phase to bulk water coated by organic are estimated by the former method. These free energy profiles exhibit a barrier to accommodation in the monolayers containing alcohols with zero and one-level of branching. However, the barrier is not observed for monolayers containing alcohols with two-levels of branching. These profiles and friction coefficients estimated from simulation are used to calculate α from the transition state and Grote-Hynes theory. Results are compared with sticking probabilities estimated from direct impinging simulations, and their differences are interpreted through processes included in each theory. At a low surface coverage of these surface active molecules, the underlying bulk solution is exposed and the resistance to vapor accommodation is reduced. We estimate the carbon density in water surfaces coated by straight-chain alcohols, branched alcohols, and straight-chain fatty acids used in study by Takahama and Russell,1 and show that this quantity is related monotonically to the mass accommodation coefficient.

Suppression in droplet growth kinetics by the addition of organics to sulfate particles

AbstractAerosol‐cloud interactions are affected by the rate at which water vapor condenses onto particles during cloud droplet growth. Changes in droplet growth rates can impact cloud droplet number and size distribution. The current study investigated droplet growth kinetics of acidic and neutral sulfate particles which contained various amounts and types of organic compounds, from model compounds (carbonyls) to complex mixtures (α‐pinene secondary organic aerosol and diesel engine exhaust). In most cases, the formed droplet size distributions were shifted to smaller sizes relative to control experiments (pure sulfate particles), due to suppression in droplet growth rates in the cloud condensation nuclei counter. The shift to smaller droplets correlated with increasing amounts of organic material, with the largest effect observed for acidic seed particles at low relative humidity. For all organics incorporated onto acidic particles, formation of high molecular weight compounds was observed, probably by acid‐catalyzed Aldol condensation reactions in the case of carbonyls. To test the reversibility of this process, carbonyl experiments were conducted with acidic particles exposed to higher relative humidity. High molecular weight compounds were not measured in this case and no shift in droplet sizes was observed, suggesting that high molecular weight compounds are the species affecting the rate of water uptake. While these results provide laboratory evidence that organic compounds can slow droplet growth rates, the modeled mass accommodation coefficient of water on these particles (α > 0.1) indicates that this effect is unlikely to significantly affect cloud properties, consistent with infrequent field observations of slower droplet growth rates.

Comparison of Approaches for Measuring the Mass Accommodation Coefficient for the Condensation of Water and Sensitivities to Uncertainties in Thermophysical Properties

We compare and contrast measurements of the mass accommodation coefficient of water on a water surface made using ensemble and single particle techniques under conditions of supersaturation and subsaturation, respectively. In particular, we consider measurements made using an expansion chamber, a continuous flow streamwise thermal gradient cloud condensation nuclei chamber, the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator, aerosol optical tweezers, and electrodynamic balances. Although this assessment is not intended to be comprehensive, these five techniques are complementary in their approach and give values that span the range from near 0.1 to 1.0 for the mass accommodation coefficient. We use the same semianalytical treatment to assess the sensitivities of the measurements made by the various techniques to thermophysical quantities (diffusion constants, thermal conductivities, saturation pressure of water, latent heat, and solution density) and experimental parameters (saturation value and temperature). This represents the first effort to assess and compare measurements made by different techniques to attempt to reduce the uncertainty in the value of the mass accommodation coefficient. Broadly, we show that the measurements are consistent within the uncertainties inherent to the thermophysical and experimental parameters and that the value of the mass accommodation coefficient should be considered to be larger than 0.5. Accurate control and measurement of the saturation ratio is shown to be critical for a successful investigation of the surface transport kinetics during condensation/evaporation. This invariably requires accurate knowledge of the partial pressure of water, the system temperature, the droplet curvature and the saturation pressure of water. Further, the importance of including and quantifying the transport of heat in interpreting droplet measurements is highlighted; the particular issues associated with interpreting measurements of condensation/evaporation rates with varying pressure are discussed, measurements that are important for resolving the relative importance of gas diffusional transport and surface kinetics.

The Effect of Water Evaporation on Photoacoustic Signals in Transition and Molecular Flow

Evaporation of water changes the response of photoacoustic instruments to light-absorbing particles. Previous calculations of this effect are valid for particles much larger than the mean free path of air. These calculations are extended here to include transition and molecular flow as well as various mass accommodation coefficients for water. For commonly encountered conditions, evaporation can significantly reduce the photoacoustic signal if the mass accommodation coefficient of water on aerosol particles is larger than about 0.01. Unlike the growth of cloud droplets, the photoacoustic signal is very sensitive to changes in the accommodation coefficient between 0.1 and 1. This may provide a way to measure large accommodation coefficients. For a given accommodation coefficient, the change in the photoacoustic signal depends more on absolute than relative humidity. To minimize the effects of evaporation it is better to remove water from the air rather than reduce relative humidity with heating.

Mass accommodation coefficient of water: A combined computational fluid dynamics and experimental data analysis

The mass accommodation coefficient αmass of water vapor in NaCl solutions has been studied for realistic lower atmospheric conditions. To determine αmass, a combination of experimental data and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling has been applied. Experiments were performed at the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS), a laminar flow diffusion tube for measurements of both hygroscopic growth and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation. Quasi‐monodisperse sodium chloride particles with 54 nm and 108 nm in diameter have been used as condensation nuclei. To characterize particle growth, mean droplet diameters have been measured at the outlet of LACIS with a white‐light optical particle spectrometer. Measurements were performed for different saturation ratios in the range between 1.0 and 1.02. Experiments have been modeled using the Computational Fluid Dynamics Code (CFD‐Code) FLUENT6 combined with the Fine Particle Model (FPM). For determination of αmass, measured droplet diameters have been compared with calculated ones. The accommodation coefficient in the theoretical calculations was varied to achieve a quantitative comparison with the measurements. Experimental data shown in this study are consistent with αmass > 0.30. Therefore our results support previous studies applying different experimental techniques.

On the contribution of Aitken mode particles to cloud droplet populations at continental background areas – a parametric sensitivity study

Abstract. Aitken mode particles are potentially an important source of cloud droplets in continental background areas. In order to find out which physico-chemical properties of Aitken mode particles are most important regarding their cloud-nucleating ability, we calculated the number of cloud droplets formed on Aitken mode particles, CD2, with an adiabatic air parcel model. The model output was analyzed using a global sensitivity analysis method that quantifies and ranks the relative importance of the considered input parameters to the total variance of CD2. The results show that unless the particle surface tension or the mass accommodation coefficient of water is strongly reduced due to the presence of surface-active organics, the parameters describing the size distribution are generally more important than the particle chemical composition. In the absence of such compounds, the chemical composition may have roughly an equal importance with the size distribution only at low updraft velocities characterized by maximum supersaturations below 0.1%. Furthermore, the largest source of variability is generally the particle number concentration, followed by the particle size. The performed sensitivity analysis revealed that the variability of the particle chemical composition may dominate the total variation of CD2 if: 1) the value of α varies at least one order of magnitude more than what is expected for pure water surfaces (10−2–1), or 2) the particle surface tension varies more than roughly 30% under conditions close to reaching saturation.

Reply to “Comment on ‘Mass Accommodation Coefficient of Water: Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Revised Analysis of Droplet Train/Flow Reactor Experiment'”

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCommentNEXTReply to “Comment on ‘Mass Accommodation Coefficient of Water: Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Revised Analysis of Droplet Train/Flow Reactor Experiment'”Akihiro Morita, Masakazu Sugiyama, Seiichiro Koda, and David R. HansonView Author Information Department of Computational Molecular Science, Institute for Molecular Science, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan Department of Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, 7-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado 80303-2000 Cite this: J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 30, 14747–14749Publication Date (Web):July 9, 2005Publication History Received6 December 2004Published online9 July 2005Published inissue 1 August 2005https://doi.org/10.1021/jp040744pCopyright © 2005 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views156Altmetric-Citations8LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (25 KB) Get e-AlertsSUBJECTS:Fluid dynamics,Kinetics,Liquids,Molecular dynamics simulations,Solubility Get e-Alerts

Comment on “Mass Accommodation Coefficient of Water: Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Revised Analysis of Droplet Train/Flow Reactor Experiment”

The mass accommodation (condensation) coefficient α of water vapor into liquid water was theoretically studied via two complementary approaches: by molecular dynamics (MD) scattering simulation an...

Commentary on cloud modelling and the mass accommodation coefficient of water

Abstract. The mass accommodation coefficient of water is a quantity for which different experimental techniques have yielded conflicting values in the range 0.04-1. From the viewpoint of cloud modelling, this is an unfortunate situation, since the value of the mass accommodation coefficient affects the model results, e.g. the number concentration of activated cloud droplets. In this commentary we note that in cloud modelling, the primary quantity of interest is the droplet growth rate rather than the mass accommodation coefficient, and that experimental investigations of droplet growth rates provide more direct verification of cloud models than do measurements of the mass accommodation coefficient. Furthermore, we argue that the droplet growth rates calculated in cloud model studies are consistent with experimental results obtained so far only if a mass accommodation coefficient of unity is applied.