Numerical Investigation of Falling Film Thickness Over Horizontal Tubes

The objective of the study is to numerically investigate falling film thickness over horizontal tubes. Commonly used six fluids are selected for this study, with modified Galileo number Ga* in the range of 36 to 500. Efforts are made to study variation in geometrical parameters i.e. tube diameter and spacing between the tubes. Commercial CFD code (FLUENT version 13.0.0) for 2D configurations is used for simulation over two horizontal tubes. Model of coupled volume-of-fluid and level-set method are used for the numerical investigation. Results obtained are discussed by comparing the present available data in terms of effect of modified Galileo number, Ga* on film thickness. It is observed that the nature of film thickness over the tubes is similar to available experimental and numerical data. An attempt is made to propose a numerical correlation for film thickness in terms of non-dimensional numbers and tube angle.