Numerical investigation of condensation of gasoline vapor with turbulent flow in vertical tubes

To investigate the characteristics of the condensation in gasoline vapor condensation recovery,the condensation process of gasoline vapor with turbulent flow in a vertical tube is simulated based on the gas-liquid two-phase flow model.An effective diffusion coefficient is used to describe mass diffusion among the species of gasoline vapor.Several variables including temperature,pressure,liquid film thickness and the variation of the Nusselt number in the tube are simulated.The effects of the inlet-to-wall temperature difference and the Reynolds number on the condensation rate and the Nusselt number are obtained by modelling.The results show that heat transfer and condensation can be enhanced significantly by increasing the inlet Reynolds number.However,the increase in the inlet-to-wall temperature difference has little effect on the condensation rate.It is also found that the gasoline vapor condensation rate is influenced greatly by the mass transfer resistance.The comparison of results from the model with previous experiments shows a good agreement.