Droplet trajectory and thermal analysis of impinging saline spray flow on marine platforms in cold seas and ocean regions

In this paper, a theoretical predictive model is developed to investigate the heat and mass transfer from saline water droplets in cold seas and ocean regions. Also, the trajectory and cooling process of saline water droplets during flight over marine platforms are analyzed. The predictive model considers convection, evaporation, and radiation heat transfer from the droplet's surface to the ambient air. The results show that droplets with medium sizes can reach their maximum heights and horizontal positions at the moment of impact on the deck during flight over marine platforms. For small water droplets of approximately up to 1.1 mm, a uniform temperature within the droplet is found to be a reasonable approximation. The temperature gradient inside the droplet is small for larger droplets, because the Biot number is less than 0.5. The results indicate good agreement between the predicted results and previously published data. A sensitivity analysis is performed to examine the effects of various parameters on the trajectory and cooling process of the droplets as well as a droplet's Biot number. This analysis shows that the parameters of air temperature, droplet size, initial droplet temperature, and droplet flight time have a significant impact on the droplet cooling process, although the size of marine platforms is an important factor. Also, wind velocity plays a considerable role on the trajectory of the droplets. This model is a useful and relatively simple design tool for the analysis of thermal behaviour and prediction of the cooling process of saline water droplets.