Peculiarities in Leidenfrost water droplet evaporation

Abstract

The investigations involved a large water droplet deposited on the heating surface, the temperature of which was higher than the Leidenfrost point. The main element of the experimental setup was the heating cylinder with K-type shielded thermocouple located in its centre just below the surface. The measuring system was located on highly sensitive scales. The analysis of the droplet behaviour in time was conducted based on measured droplet mass changes over time and also photographic data recorded with high resolution digital camera. The energy balance equation is given for the assumption that evaporation from the droplet upper surface is small compared with the amount of heat dissipated from the bottom surface. The formula for the heat transfer coefficient depends on two slope values and an orthogonal projection of the drop onto the heating surface. The slopes are estimated based on the droplet diameter linear time dependence and mass versus the contact zone relationship. The solution provides a good representation of droplet evaporation under Leidenfrost conditions. The investigations, reported in the study, which concern water droplet at atmospheric pressure deposited on a hot surface with the temperature higher than the Leidenfrost point, indicate the following regularities: droplet orthogonal projection onto the heating surface changes linearly with the droplet mass, evaporation of the same amount of mass decreases linearly with an increase in the heating surface temperature, slope of the graph showing mass loss versus the heating surface temperature successively decreases.