Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
The purpose of this note is to report the results of an experimental investigation which was conducted to permit the local mass transfer rate around a sphere to be visualised. The present problem of mass transfer from a sphere had its origin in a study of the evaporation of a water droplet in a superheated steam atmosphere. Because of the small physical size of the droplet and the difficulty of measuring local mass transfer rates from the droplet surface, it was necessary to employ a large scale model to study local transfer rate around a sphere. It was considered that flow visualisation would afford at least a qualitative result of local mass transfer rate. In fluid mechanics studies, the flow visualisation techniques are well known. Such methods include the use of smoke filaments, tufts, or chemical coatings and so forth to provide information about the state of boundary layer over a solid surface, fluid particle paths and state of flow.