Heat and mass transfer boundary layers in radial creeping flow

Heat and mass transfer in radial flow between two parallel disks are analysed. This kind of problem is sometimes encountered in chemical engineering and we faced this situation in membrane separation processes in which the fluid is fed into the center of the cell and flows towards zones at higher radii. In the examined case heat and/or mass are exchanged across one of the two surfaces which confine the flow region. An analysis of the transport phenomena of such a geometry is performed by resorting to two different mathematical models. As a result the concentration and/or temperature profiles, the transport coefficients and the influence of the relevant dimensionless groups are obtained. The capability of the models to predict the experimental behavior of the vacuum membrane distillation process is demonstrated. © 1994.