In this investigation, a parallelized software tool was developed to investigate two-phase flows with thermally driven phase-change processes (e.g., condensation, evaporation, vapor absorption). This capability enables investigation of diverse phase-change phenomena in potentially greater detail than can be achieved experimentally. The code (interThermalPhaseChangeFoam) is freely released under the GPL V3.0 license, and is available here: here.
The code operates in the volume-of-fluid (VOF) framework. Geometric interface reconstruction is not performed as in many simulation tools, reducing computational cost and algorithm complexity. Rather, fast graph-based techniques are employed to identify mesh cells containing the interface. The rate of phase change is determined by directly applying the equilibrium condition at the interface. This approach is valid for general phase-change processes, and does not require user-specification of rate parameters. The code has been validated for canonical phase-change heat transfer processes including: smooth and wavy film condensation, in-tube stratified flow condensation, and convective flow evaporation. Representative results are presented for simulations of dropwise condensation (Figures 1 – 2), nucleate boiling (Figure 3), and falling film vapor absorption over rectangular cooled tubes (Figure 4).
Related publications
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- Adhikari, S., Nabil, M., Rattner, A.S., 2017. Condensation heat transfer in a sessile droplet at varying Biot number and contact angle. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115A: 926-931. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.07.077.
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- Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2014. Simple mechanistically consistent formulation for volume-of-fluid based computations of condensing flows. Journal of Heat Transfer 136 (7): 71501-1–9. DOI: 1115/1.4026808.