Finite element simulation of thin liquid film flow and heat transfer including a hydraulic jump

A numerical simulation has been performed to investigate planar and radial flows of thin liquid film subject to constant wall temperature or constant wall heat flux, considering the surface tension effect. To simulate the var iation of the film height including a hydraulic jump, an Arbitrary Lagrangi an-Eulerian (ALE) method is adopted in describing the governing equations. An iterative split algorithm is used to improve the continuity constraint i n time marching of the governing equations which are discretized by Streaml ine Upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) finite element method. It has been shown clearly that the surface tension has to be considered in order to describe realistically a hydraulic jump preceded by a capillary ripple. The variatio n of the film height is in good agreement with the existing experimental da ta. Physical aspects of how the flowrate as well as temperature-dependent f luid properties affect the formation of the hydraulic jump and the variatio n of the Nusselt number are discussed rationally. Copyright (C) 1999 John W iley & Sons, Ltd.