Open Access

ARTICLE

DIRECT SIMULATIONS OF BIPHILIC-SURFACE CONDENSATION: OPTIMIZED SIZE EFFECTS

Zijie Chen^a , Sanat Modak^a, Massoud Kaviany^a,* , Richard Bonner^b

a Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, the United States
b Advanced Cooling Technologies, Lancaster, PA, 17601, the United States

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2020, 14, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.14.1

Abstract

In dropwise condensation on vertical surface, droplets grow at nucleation sites, coalesce and reach the departing diameter. In biphilic surfaces, when the hydrophobic domain is small, the maximum droplet diameter is controlled by the shortest dimension where the droplets merge at the boundary. Through direct numerical simulations this size-effect heat transfer coefficient enhancement is calculated. Then the 1-D biphilic surface is optimized considering the size-dependent hydrophilic domain partial flooding (directly simulated as a liquid rivulet and using the capillary limit), the subcooling (heat flux) and condenser length effects. The predicted performance is in good agreement with the available experiments.

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Keywords

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