Thermally driven coalescence in thin liquid film flowing down a fiber

ORAL

Abstract

We aim at understanding the dynamics of thin fluid film flowing down a vertical fiber under streamwise thermal effects, both experimentally and theoretically. Recent studies have shown the importance of determining the regime transition from absolute to convective instability. Unlike previous work, our experiments demonstrate that the onset of such irregular wavy regime can also be induced by thermal gradient away from the nozzle. The new model includes spatial-dependent viscosity and surface tension due to inhomogeneous temperature field along the fiber. The predicted coalescence positions based on this theory are useful in the design of heat and mass exchangers for applications that include cooling systems and desalination.~

*Simons Foundation Math+X investigator award number 510776, National Science Foundation CBET-1358034.

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Authors

  • Claudia Falcon

    • Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California, Los Angeles
    • UCLA

  • Hangjie Ji

    • Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles
    • UCLA

  • Abolfazl Sadeghpour

    • Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles

  • Erfan Sedighi

    • Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles
    • Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles

  • Y. Sungtaek Ju

    • Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles

  • Andrea Bertozzi

    • Department of Mathematics & Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles
    • Department of Mathematics and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California, Los Angeles
    • Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles