Dimensionless Sherwood number data pertaining to micro-structured heterogeneous steam reforming reactor systems at different flow velocities

The Sherwood number, also called the mass transfer Nusselt number, is a dimensionless number used in mass-transfer operation. The Sherwood number represents the ratio of the convective mass transfer to the rate of diffusive mass transport. Using dimensional analysis, the Sherwood number can also be further defined as a function of the Reynolds and Schmidt numbers. A more specific correlation is the Froessling equation. This form is applicable to molecular diffusion from a single spherical particle. It is particularly valuable in situations where the Reynolds number and Schmidt number are readily available. Since the Reynolds and Schmidt numbers are both dimensionless numbers, the Sherwood number is also dimensionless. These correlations are the mass transfer analogies to heat transfer correlations of the Nusselt number in terms of the Reynolds number and Prandtl number. For a correlation for a given geometry, a heat transfer correlation for the Nusselt number in terms of the Reynolds number and the Prandtl number can be used as a mass transfer correlation by replacing the Prandtl number with the analogous dimensionless number for mass transfer, the Schmidt number, and replacing the Nusselt number with the analogous dimensionless number for mass transfer, the Sherwood number. As an example, a heat transfer correlation for spheres is given by the Ranz-Marshall correlation. This correlation can be made into a mass transfer correlation. This is a very concrete way of demonstrating the analogies between different forms of transport phenomena.
Contributor: Junjie Chen, E-mail address: [e-mail], ORCID: 0000-0002-5022-6863, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, 2000 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, P.R. China