Similarity criteria for heat and mass transfer during vapor condensation on a spherical particle in a dense gas atmosphere

Heat and mass transfer occurring during vapor condensation on a spherical particle in a dense gas atmosphere is analyzed kinetically with allowance for effects associated with density and temperature distributions in the boundary layer. The kinetic approach to the analysis of the phenomena taking place in the gas phase explains why Nusselt numbers change with temperature and provides a quantitative description of this change. In particular, it is shown that a boundary layer with properties different from those of the vapor-gas mixture in the unperturbed region is formed near the particle and that the energy and mass flows change nonlinearly with temperature gradients in the layer.