Effect of mild sway on the interfacial mass transfer rate of stored liquids

Abstract

An exploratory study of two-phase physics was undertaken in a slow moving tank containing liquid. This study is under the regime of conjugate heat and mass transfer phenomena. An experiment was designed and performed to estimate the interfacial mass transfer characteristics of a slowly moving tank. The tank was swayed at varying frequencies and constant amplitude. The experiments were conducted for a range of liquid temperatures and filling levels. The experimental setup consisted of a tank partially filled with water at different temperatures, being swayed using a six degrees-of-freedom (DOF) motion actuator. The experiments were conducted for a frequency range of 0.7–1.6 Hz with constant amplitude of 0.025 m. The evaporation of liquid from the interface and the gaseous condensation was quantified by calculating the instantaneous interfacial mass transfer rate of the slow moving tank. The dependence of interfacial mass transfer rate on the liquid–vapor interfacial temperature, the fractional concentration of the evaporating liquid, the surface area of the liquid vapor interface and the filling level of the liquid was established. As sway frequency, filling levels, and liquid temperature increased, the interfacial mass transfer rate also increased. The interfacial mass transfer rate estimated for the swaying tank compared with the interfacial mass transfer rate of stationary tank shows that vibration increases the mass transfer.