Experimental study of air accumulation in vapor condensation across horizontal tube

In this study, air accumulation in vapor condensation across a horizontal tube was investigated experimentally. A total of 16 thermistors were mounted uniformly on the horizontal tube wall along the circumference of z = 0.17 m and z = 0.63 m to measure wall temperature. Results show that vapor exists as a three-dimensional diffusion flow and air is carried by vapor toward the downstream at θ = 135°-225° and z = 0-0.6 m, and forms a saturated moist air region there, whereas another region is full of moist vapor. A vapor flowing front lies at the joint of two regions, where interdiffusion between vapor and air is in dynamic equilibrium. In the saturated moist air region, the ratio of gas film layer to overall thermal resistance is within the range of 0.92-0.97, the air mole fraction on the gas-liquid interface is within the range of 0.75-0.87, and the heat transfer coefficient at the condensation side is less than 300 W m−2 K−1. An increase in cooling water mass flux pushes the vapor flowing front forward, expanding the moist vapor region, ultimately enlarging the vapor condensation area. The present experimental results were compared with the results of the works of Zhou and Rose (1996), Sherkriladze and Gomelauri (1966), Rose (1984), Fujii et al. (1972), Memory et al. (1993), and Chen and Lin (2009). The wall temperature distribution and Nu‾/Rel0.5 variation are reasonable.