Frost growth around a cylinder in a wet air stream

This paper describes a two-dimensional model which permits the evaluation of the local properties during the frost formation. To achieve this objective it is necessary to know the local coefficients of heat and mass transfer which were determined by solving the flow, temperature and humidity fields. To solve the flow field, the governing equations were developed in terms of the stream and vorticity functions. A numerical solution is obtained for low Reynolds number up to 400. With the flow field solved, the temperature and humidity fields are determined and hence the local heat and mass coefficients, These coefficients were then used in the solution of a two stage model for frost formation permitting the prediction of the local frost properties around the cylinder such as density, thickness and temperature. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR.