Liquid film condensation along a vertical surface in a thin porous medium with large anisotropic permeability

The problems of steady film condensation on a vertical surface embedded in a thin porous medium with anisotropic permeability filled with pure saturated vapour are studied analytically by using the Brinkman-Darcy flow model. The principal axes of anisotropic permeability are oriented in a direction that non-coincident with the gravity force. On the basis of the flow permeability tensor due to the anisotropic properties and the Brinkman-Darcy flow model adopted by considering negligible macroscopic and microscopic inertial terms, boundary-layer approximations in the porous liquid film momentum equation is solved analytically. Scale analysis is applied to predict the order-of-magnitudes involved in the boundary layer regime. The first novel contribution in the mathematics consists in the use of the anisotropic permeability tensor inside the expression of the mathematical formulation of the film condensation problem along a vertical surface embedded in a porous medium. The present analytical study reveals that the anisotropic permeability properties have a strong influence on the liquid film thickness, condensate mass flow rate and surface heat transfer rate. The comparison between thin and thick porous media is also presented.