Laminar Film Condensation on a Vertical Melting Surface

Abstract

Laminar film condensation of a saturated vapor on a vertical melting surface is treated theoretically, with emphasis on departures from a previous treatment produced by: (a) arbitrary liquid Prandtl numbers and (b) condensation-melting systems involving two materials of immiscible liquids. An integral method is utilized which takes full account of the effects of both liquid film inertia and shear force at the condensing vapor-liquid film interface. For a one-component system accurate numerical results for the melting rates are displayed graphically and define the range of validity of a simple treatment of this problem based on Nusselt’s method. For a two-component system, illustrative calculations are made for the condensation of a refrigerant vapor on melting ice.