Experimental Investigation of Capillary-Induced Rewetting in a Flat Porous Wicking Structure

An experimental program was conducted to investigate the rewetting characteristics of liquid flowing through multiple layers of screen mesh covering a heated vertical plate. Data obtained for acetone and R-11 were analyzed and compared with previously developed theoretical expressions for the rewetting velocity, the maximum liquid rise height, and the maximum heat flux for which rewetting could occur. The experimental results indicate that the thickness of the screen mesh layer and the liquid thermophysical properties are the most important factors affecting the rewetting behavior. As predicted by the theoretical model, small increases in the thickness of the screen layer initially caused the maximum permissible rewetting heat flux to increase. Once the layer thickness had reached a critical value, continued increases resulted in a decrease in the maximum permissible rewetting heat flux.