Experimental Research of Film Separation in a Wave-Plate Channel

The visualization research experiment platform was designed and built to describe the rupture of falling films driven by a horizontal gas flow in the wave-plate channel in this paper. The critical separation condition of different film thickness was gained by changing the liquid film flow rate and air velocity. The high speed camera was used to get the film separation images. The results showed that the liquid film rupture associated with both air velocity and film thickness which showed a negative correlation; Dimensionless analysis showed that the inertial centrifugal force and air flow shear stress are instability factors leading to the film separation, viscous force and surface tension are the stability factors; The film breach was started from the bending angle（convex angle） of the wave-plate, the separation forms related to the thickness of liquid films.