About this Research Topic
Liquid film flow on a solid surface is a phenomenon in daily life, exemplified by the rainwater drainage on glass windows. Fundamentally, liquid film flow is a free-boundary problem driven by gravity, surface tension, electromagnetic forces, etc. Decades-long attention has been received by the liquid film due to its interdisciplinary nature intersecting with fluid dynamics, interfacial science, and heat and mass transfer.
With the industrialization of human society, the liquid film has been widely used in chemical, food, mechanical, energy, and power engineering processes. Typical examples include phase change heat transfer (e.g., evaporation, condensation, and boiling), electronics thermal management (e.g., heat pipes and advanced cooling), building energy and environment management (e.g., cleaning, air-conditioning, and dehumidification), facility safety (e.g., firefighting and passive cooling of a nuclear reactor containment), water production (e.g., distillation and desalination), sewage heat recovery, carbon dioxide capture, among others. In recent years, the global demand for low-emission and high-efficiency technologies is increasing, which makes it necessary to further study liquid films, not only to enrich the understanding of liquid-film physics, but also to improve the limit of heat and mass transfer performance.
In this context, a Research Topic, entitled “Hydrodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer of Liquid Films”, was proposed for Frontiers in Physics, a journal indexed in Science Citation Index and Scopus. This Research Topic aims to gather reviews and original research papers addressing the current topics and future challenges, in an attempt to marshal the basic theoretical knowledge and provide necessary reference and guidance for good engineering practices. Topics of interest to this collection include, but are not limited to:
• Advanced measurement techniques of liquid films thickness;
• Predictions in film thickness, heat and mass transfer coefficient;
• Heat and/or mass transfer performance of relevant heat exchangers;
• Enhanced techniques of heat or mass transfer in liquid films.
With the industrialization of human society, the liquid film has been widely used in chemical, food, mechanical, energy, and power engineering processes. Typical examples include phase change heat transfer (e.g., evaporation, condensation, and boiling), electronics thermal management (e.g., heat pipes and advanced cooling), building energy and environment management (e.g., cleaning, air-conditioning, and dehumidification), facility safety (e.g., firefighting and passive cooling of a nuclear reactor containment), water production (e.g., distillation and desalination), sewage heat recovery, carbon dioxide capture, among others. In recent years, the global demand for low-emission and high-efficiency technologies is increasing, which makes it necessary to further study liquid films, not only to enrich the understanding of liquid-film physics, but also to improve the limit of heat and mass transfer performance.
In this context, a Research Topic, entitled “Hydrodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer of Liquid Films”, was proposed for Frontiers in Physics, a journal indexed in Science Citation Index and Scopus. This Research Topic aims to gather reviews and original research papers addressing the current topics and future challenges, in an attempt to marshal the basic theoretical knowledge and provide necessary reference and guidance for good engineering practices. Topics of interest to this collection include, but are not limited to:
• Advanced measurement techniques of liquid films thickness;
• Predictions in film thickness, heat and mass transfer coefficient;
• Heat and/or mass transfer performance of relevant heat exchangers;
• Enhanced techniques of heat or mass transfer in liquid films.
Keywords: Liquid film, Falling film evaporation, Spray evaporation, Evaporative cooling, Filmwise condensation, Film thickness, Liquid desiccant dehumidification, Liquid film boiling, Thermal desalination
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
