Simulating a porous surface that is partially saturated with a liquid, a tw
o-dimensional meniscus attaching two adjacent cylinders with the same diame
ter is studied under heating and convective conditions. A thin liquid film
model is presented to predict thin film thickness and evaporative heat tran
sfer coefficient. Experiments are carried out to characterize the temperatu
re and geometry of a liquid meniscus, The evaporating thin film length is d
etermined from measured surface temperature and meniscus shape. The surface
temperature data is correlated and used to derive the evaporative heat tra
nsfer coefficient with the aid of conjugate heat transfer using a finite el
ement code. The results are compared reasonably with the thin film model. T
he effects of Bond number, spacing between cylinders and heating power on t
hin film geometry and heat transfer characteristics are discussed. Correlat
ions to predict the evaporative heat transfer coefficient and ratio of evap
orative heat transfer rate to total heat rate are presented. (C) 1999 Elsev
ier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.