Numerical heat transfer analyses of a wavy-laminar falling film using moving curvilinear coordinates

In most processes using water film, surface instabilities can be found at the free surface. This work focuses on analyzing their influence on wall heat flux. This is a coupled phenomenon whose full solution would be computationally intensive, so a simplified method is developed. The interface of the film is predicted using an algorithm based on statistical data measurements and the velocity profile is supposed auto-similar to that of Nusselt. The problem is solved numerically using a moving mesh fitted to the shape of the interface. The subsequent statistical analysis highlighted the relative importance of height fluctuations on wall heat flux.