Abstract
Numerical simulation has been made on heat and mass transfer of vapor absorption by wavy lithium bromide aqueous solution films. The velocity fields and interface positions are obtained by VOF model. Solitary waves are generated by periodically disturbed inflow boundary. Based on these, the temperature and concentration fields are obtained with a stationary interface shape. The effect of solitary waves on the heat and mass transfer across the film is investigated. It is shown that due to the mixing of circulation and stretch of large film thickness, the gradient of concentration and absorption rate decrease for solitary wave region. The region of capillary waves shows a significant amount of absorption enhancement. The percentage of absorption for the different regions is quantified.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.











Abbreviations
- C :
-
Concentration of H2O (% by weight)
- c P :
-
Specific heat (J/kg K)
- D AB :
-
Diffusion coefficient (m2/s)
- f :
-
Disturbance frequency (Hz)
- \( \vec{F} \) :
-
Source term
- g :
-
Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
- h :
-
Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
- H a :
-
Absorption heat (kJ/kg)
- h m :
-
Mass transfer coefficient (m/s)
- m x :
-
Absorption rate (kg/m2 s)
- M x :
-
Total absorption rate (kg/s)
- q :
-
Heat flux at the interface
- Re :
-
Reynolds number 4Γ/μ
- t :
-
Time(s)
- T :
-
Temperature (°C)
- u :
-
Streamwise velocity (m/s)
- U w :
-
Wave celerity (m/s)
- v :
-
Transverse velocity (m/s)
- We :
-
Webber number \( We = \rho u_{0}^{2} \delta_{0} /\sigma \)
- x :
-
Streamwise coordinate (m)
- y :
-
Transverse coordinate (m)
- δ :
-
Film thickness (mm)
- ρ :
-
Density (kg/m3)
- μ :
-
Viscosity (Pa s)
- σ :
-
Surface tension (N/m)
- α :
-
Thermal diffusivity (m2/s)
- α q :
-
Volume fraction
- ε :
-
Disturbance amplitude
- λ :
-
Thermal conductivity (W/m K)
- 0:
-
Nusselt solution
- L:
-
Liquid
- G:
-
Gas
- i:
-
Interface
- w:
-
Wall
References
- 1.
Ma XH, Chen JB, Li SP, Sha QY, Liang AM, Li W, Zhang JY, Zheng GJ, Feng ZH (2003) Application of absorption heat transformer to recover waste heat from a synthetic rubber plant. Appl Therm Eng 23:797–806
- 2.
Alekseenko SV, Nakoryakov VE, Pokusaev BG (1994) Wave flow of liquid films. Begell House, New York
- 3.
Chang HC, Demekhin EA (2002) Complex wave dynamics on thin films. Elsevier Press, Amsterdam
- 4.
Killion JD, Garimella S (2001) A critical review of models of coupled heat and mass transfer in falling-film absorption. Int J Refrig 24:755–797
- 5.
Grigor’eva NI, Nakoryakov VE (1977) Exact solution of combined heat- and mass-transfer problem during film absorption. J Eng Phys Thermophys 33:1349–1353
- 6.
Grossman G (1983) Simultaneous heat and mass transfer in film absorption under laminar flow. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 26:357–371
- 7.
Brauner N, Maron DM, Meyerson H (1989) Coupled heat condensation and mass absorption with comparable concentrations of absorbate and absorbent. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 32:1897–1906
- 8.
Wasden FK, Dukler AE (1990) Numerical study of mass transfer in free falling wavy films. AIChE J 36:1379–1390
- 9.
Park CD, Nosoko T et al (2004) Wave-augmented mass transfer in a liquid film falling inside a vertical tube. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 47:2587–2598
- 10.
Jayanti S, Hewitt GF (1997) Hydrodynamics and heat transfer of wavy thin film flow. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 40:179–190
- 11.
Morioka I, Kiyota M (1991) Absorption of water vapor into a wavy film of an aqueous solution of LiBr. JSME Int J Ser 2(34):183–188
- 12.
Patnaik V, Perez-Blanco H (1996) A study of absorption enhancement by wavy film flows. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 17:71–77
- 13.
Islam MA, Miyara A et al (2009) Numerical investigation of steam absorption in falling film of LiBr aqueous solution with solitary waves. Int J Refrig 32:1597–1603
- 14.
Subramaniam V, Garimella S (2009) From measurements of hydrodynamics to computation of species transport in falling films. Int J Refrig 32:607–626
- 15.
Fluent, user’s guide. 2005
- 16.
McNeely LA (1979) Thermodynamic properties of aqueous solutions of lithium bromide. ASHRAE Trans 85:413–434
- 17.
Gao D, Morley NB, Dhir V (2003) Numerical simulation of wavy falling film flow using VOF method. J Comput Phys 192:624–642
- 18.
Miyara A (1999) Numerical analysis on flow dynamics and heat transfer of falling liquid films with interfacial waves. Heat Mass Transfer 35:298–306
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for financial support by The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, 2007AA05Z214), National Natural Science Foundation of China (50476072) and the fund of New Century Excellent Talents in Universities of State Ministry Education of China (NCET-05-0280).
Author information
Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bo, S., Ma, X., Chen, H. et al. Numerical simulation on vapor absorption by wavy lithium bromide aqueous solution films. Heat Mass Transfer 47, 1611 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-011-0820-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Keywords
- Solitary Wave
- Mass Transfer Coefficient
- Capillary Wave
- High Concentration Solution
- Lithium Bromide