Experimental study on effect of relative humidity on heat transfer of an evaporating water droplet in air flow

Dispersed water droplets are often seen in environmental air flows in rain, cloud, mist, sea spray and so on. it is therefore of great importance to precisely estimate heat transfer between water droplets and atmospheric air in developing a reliable climate model. The purpose of this study is to fabricate the measurement system for the temperature of a small water droplet in air flow under the controlled relative humidity condition and to investigate the effect of relative humidity on heat transfer across the surface of an evaporating water droplet in air flow. The results show that the droplet temperature decreases in the low-relative-humidity condition, whereas it increases in the high-relative-humidity condition. Nusselt number on the droplet surface is not affected by the relative humidity. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.