The influence of physical and geometrical parameters on the dimensionless thickness of liquid film

The study of condensation in porous media is subject of growing interest because of its importance in many areas of technology such as heat exchanges, fuel cells, geothermal, energy storage etc…It also finds its application in some technological problems with a two-phase zone, called mushy zone, represented by a saturated porous medium and a binary fluid. It is particularly well developed in these recent years and has been the subject of numerous studies both experimental and numerical. A numerical study of the forced condensation of pure saturated steam and convection to a vertical wall covered with a porous material is shown. Transfers in the porous medium and the liquid film are respectively described by the Darcy-Brinkman model and the classical equations of the boundary layer. The dimensionless equations are solved by an implicit finite difference method and the iterative Gauss-Seidel. The thickness of the condensate film is determined from the equation of heat balance at the vapor-liquid interface and an iterative procedure based on Quasi Linearized Newton method. We analyze the influence of Prandtl, Jacob and Froude numbers and dimensionless thermal conductivity on the dimensionless thickness of liquid film.