Evaporation of a sessile water droplet subjected to forced convection in humid environment

The evaporation of a sessile droplet is here investigated numerically with a design of experiment approach. Boundary conditions are chosen based on forced convection in humid air, i.e., mimicking the conditions inside a dishwasher. Computational fluid dynamic simulations of an axisymmetrical droplet placed on a heated plate show that relative humidity, initial contact angle, plate temperature, and temperature difference between plate and air all have significant effect on the initial evaporation rate. For the studied conditions, relative humidity is the most significant factor while the magnitude of the velocity and type of internal flow are insignificant within a 95% confidence interval.