Numerical solution of dropwise evaporative cooling

A numerical code for the prediction of evaporative cooling of solid surfaces induced by gently deposited water droplets is presented. The code is based upon a solid-liquid coupled model which predicts the droplet evaporation and the solid surface cooling for materials with thermal conductivity spanning over more than two orders of magnitude. Surface heating by conduction and radiation is considered. The numerical solution of the heat-conduction equation, which links a control volume method (CVM) used for the liquid and a boundary element method (BEM) used for the solid, is presented. By comparing the numerical predictions with available experimental data, the single-droplet code is validated and used as a basis to formulate the multi-droplet model, which is also presented.