TRANSIENT FILM CONDENSATION ON FINITE HORIZONTAL SURFACES WITH RUN-OFF.

This investigation presents new analytical and experimental findings for a wide range of conditions for this important problem. The appropriate conservation equations are simplified by using several approximations valid for many physical circumstances of interest, and the resulting ordinary nonlinear differential equations are integrated numerically. The theoretical results are shown to depend on a single new dimensionless group. Heat transfer results are presented and the various approximations used are scrutinized. The experimental results suggest that the film thickness is a relatively weak function of time.