Correlation for sessile drop evaporation over a wide range of drop volatilities, ambient gases and pressures

The range of experimental conditions resulted in a large variation in the rates of diffusive and naturally convective transport of the vapor. Over the range of experimental conditions, the liquid volatility, as indicated by the equilibrium vapor pressure, was varied by a factor of 16.7, the mass diffusivity by a factor of 52.2, the density difference ratio (the impetus for natural convection) by a factor of 3557, and the drop radius by a factor of 22. In terms of the Rayleigh number, the experimental data covers a range from 5 to 361,000. Consequently, the correlation is applicable to a very broad range of conditions. To our knowledge these evaporation rate measurements of sessile drops in gases other than air and at pressures above one atmosphere are the first to be reported in the literature.