Experimental study of water film falling and spreading on a large vertical plate

In this paper, experimental studies on water film falling and spreading on a large vertical flat plate are carried out. The experiments aim at investigating the flow characteristics of a falling film. The Reynolds number of falling film ranges from 50 to 900. Capacitance probes and high speed camera are chosen to measure the water film thickness and wave velocity. Plates with different coatings are used to study the effect of the surface condition on the coverage rate. Based on the comparison with theoretical solutions and other experimental data in open literature, the reliability of the experimental data is proven. Experimental results on film thickness, its probability density function, as well as coverage rate and wave velocity are presented and discussed.

► Experimental data of film flow on very large plate (2 m × 5 m).
► High speed camera for wave pattern capture.
► Coverage rate experiment and analysis.