A Theotical Study on Laminar Film-Wise Condensation Heat Transfer to a Cooled Small Downward Surface

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a theoretical analysis of the laminar film-wise condensation heat transfer to a cooled small downward surface. A quasi-steady solution is obtained and compared with previous experimental results having different physical properties. The theory shows that the circumferential area of the surface is very important in the small condensing surface because the ratio of the circumferential area with a thin film to an overall heat transfer surface increases remarkably than that of the large surface. It is shown that the analytical solution can well predict the heat transfer to a small surface.