Simulation of Spray Cooling with Impact on a Wire Mesh Inducing a Water Film
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Spray cooling enhances heat dissipation compared to air convection. But in heat exchangers, harmful water films sometimes block air flowing through fins using spray cooling, lowering heat exchange while increasing pressure losses. Improved fin geometries are required to maintain a high transfer rate using spray cooling. Formation and evaporation of water films created by a spray are therefore studied. Numerical approaches using the VOF method are employed to study the water-air interface. The complex topography of the wire mesh is achieved by solidifying the air, i.e., increasing its density and imposing boundary conditions on the velocity field. The clogging rate measure in 2D/3D simulations characterizes the influence of drop diameter, mesh geometry, and water flow.
