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Title: Two-dimensional numerical simulation of a Stirling engine heat exchanger

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10181401
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Cleveland State Univ., OH (United States)
  2. Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH (United States)

This paper describes the first phase of an effort to develop multidimensional models of Stirling engine components; the ultimate goal is to model an entire engine working space. More specifically, this paper describes parallel plate and tubular heat exchanger models with emphasis on the central part of the channel (i.e., ignoring hydrodynamic and thermal end effects). The model assumes: Laminar, incompressible flow with constant thermophysical properties. In addition, a constant axial temperature gradient is imposed. The governing equations, describing the model, have been solved Crack-Nicloson finite-difference scheme. Model predictions have been compared with analytical solutions for oscillating/reversing flow and heat transfer in order to check numerical accuracy. The simplifying assumptions will later be relaxed to permit modeling of incompressible, laminar/turbulent flow that occurs in Stirling heat exchanger. Excellent agreement has been obtained for the model predictions with analytical solutions available for both flow in circular tubes and between parallel plates. Also the heat transfer computational results are in good agreement with the heat transfer analytical results for parallel plates.

Research Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (United States). Lewis Research Center
Sponsoring Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AI03-86SF16310
OSTI ID:
10181401
Report Number(s):
NASA-TM-102057; CONF-890815-31; ON: DE94051268; TRN: 94:008318
Resource Relation:
Conference: 24. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference,Arlington, VA (United States),6-11 Aug 1989; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English