LIQUID FILMS

Phase-changing falling liquid films sheared by a turbulent gas/vapor:

Liquid films flowing down an inclined plane are very common in everyday life. For instance, we can commonly observe this kind of flow on a window or sloped ground in the midst of a rainfall. The destabilization of liquid films subjected to gravity can be often dramatic: a host of complex and not-fully understood phenomena, such as formation of regular or chaotic structures, periodic waves, shocks and fronts, rivulets, fingering can be observed. Moreover, many technological applications, in particular in Chemical Engineering processes are interested by falling liquid films. Absorbers/mass exchange process with dilute gas, coating process (where the quality of the coated surface strongly depends on the hydrodynamic behavior of initial liquid film) and evaporators and, more general, heat exchange processes, with heat transport from the plate to the film and vapor condensation, to give a few examples of the relevance of these flows. In fact, in most applications, phase changes through either evaporation or condensation or both, have to be taken into account. My research goal is developing a rational and systematic theoretical-computational framework to have accurate and efficient predictions of the behavior of liquid films forced by a turbulent gas/vapor motion, in the presence of a phase change.