SPREADING OF LIQUID POINT SOURCES OVER INCLINED SOLID-SURFACES

The spreading of a wetting liquid introduced as a distributed source o ver solid surfaces has many interesting practical applications in heat and mass transfer contacting devices. This work analyzes the spreadin g of Liquid over inclined flat surfaces. This study is the first of a program designed to understand the development of film flows from drip points over ordered packing in packed beds used in heat and mass tran sfer applications. The free surface of the liquid stream introduced as a point source retains a shape similar to a Gaussian or exponential d istribution as it spreads down the solid surface, increasing the surfa ce area as well as distribution of flow over the surface. The three-di mensional flow field, described using a 3D vector potential function, satisfies continuity and the first-order terms of the Navier-Stokes eq uations in the main direction of flow and in the direction normal to t he main direction of now. A viscous long-wave approximation was used t o derive a film evolution equation and the kinematic boundary conditio n at the free surface. Experiments were carried out with fluids of two different viscosities and at varying inclination angles of the solid surface.