Transient Simultaneous Condensation and Melting of a Vertical Surface

Abstract

Transient melting of a vertical wall as a result of condensation of saturated vapor is investigated analytically. Using a Nusselt-type analysis the equations governing the laminar melt and condensate films are solved by a combination of analytical and numerical finite-differencing techniques. The solutions in the axial distance-time plane fall into three regions: the piling region where the melt and condensate thicknesses are only functions of time, the Goursat region where the thicknesses are functions of both the axial distance and time, and the steady-state region where the film thicknesses are only functions of the axial distance. The time to achieve a steady-state condition is obtained analytically.