When a liquid film falls from one horizontal tube to another below it, the flow may take the form of discrete droplets, jets, or a continuous sheet; the mode plays an important role in the wetting and heat transfer characteristics of the film. Experiments are reported that explore viscous, surface tension, inertial, and gravitational effects on the falling-film mode transitions. New flow classifications, a novel flow regime map, and unambiguous transition criteria for each of the mode transitions are provided. This research is part of an overall study of horizontal-tube, falling-film flow and heat transfer, and the results may have important implications on the design and operation of falling-film heat exchangers.

When a liquid film falls from one horizontal tube to another below it, the flow may take the form of discrete droplets, jets, or a continuous sheet; the mode plays an important role in the heat transfer. Experiments are reported that explore the local heat transfer behavior for each of these flow patterns, and the results are related to the important features of the flow. Spatially averaged Nusselt numbers are presented and discussed, and new mode-specific design correlations are provided. This research is part of an overall study of horizontal-tube, falling-film flow and heat transfer.

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Experimental studies of the local mass transfer characteristics of annularly finned tubes in crossflow are presented. Variations due to boundary layer development, forward-edge separation, the tube wake, horseshoe vortices, and tip vortices are discussed. In addition, regularly located local maxima in mass transfer rates associated with the horseshoe vortex system are found, and conjecture as to their mechanism is offered. Inferring heat transfer behavior from the mass transfer results, we find that the true fin efficiency is always less than that obtained with an assumed constant convective heat transfer coefficient. The difference is 3–7 percent for high-conductivity materials such as aluminum alloys, and 9–17 percent for low-conductivity materials such as mild steels.

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