Condensation of a Downward Flowing Vapor on a Horizontal Cylinder Embedded in a Porous Medium

Abstract

This article presents the results of an investigation on condensation of a downward flowing vapor on a horizontal cylinder embedded in a vapor-saturated porous medium. The Brinkman model is used to describe theoretically the flow field in both the liquid and vapor phases. The resulting governing equation was integrated numerically with the help of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The dependence of the condensate layer thickness and Nusselt number on the vapor velocity and on the permeability of the porous material is reported. Experiments were conducted to verify the theoretical findings, and good agreement was found between theory and experiment.