Three-dimensional numerical simulation of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Part 2: Heat transfer

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998 · Numerical Heat Transfer. Part A, Applications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10407789808913968· OSTI ID:624114

Prithiviraj, M; Andrews, M J ^[1]

---

1. Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

A three-dimensional, colocated fully implicit control volume based calculation procedure HEATX has been developed over the past 3 years to simulate flow and heat transfer in shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The three-dimensional model uses the distributed resistance concept of Patankar and Spalding, in conjunction with surface permeabilities and volumetric porosities to model the tubes in the heat exchanger. Part 1 of this article describes the details of the distributed resistance formulation, leakage modeling, geometry modeling, and the turbulence model. Details of the shell-side and tube-side heat transfer are given in this second part. The tube-side temperature field is computed by solving an enthalpy equation for the tube-side fluid. Coupling between the shell-side and the tube-side equations is described, and numerical results are compared with the Delaware project experimental data. The authors have made use of the symmetry of the heat exchanger to speed up their calculations. Good agreement was obtained between the three-dimensional numerical simulations and experimental results for overall pressure drop and temperature differences. Computed overall pressure drops and temperature differences were within 15% of experimental results.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 624114
• Journal Information: Numerical Heat Transfer. Part A, Applications, Journal Name: Numerical Heat Transfer. Part A, Applications Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 33; ISSN NHAAES; ISSN 1040-7782
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
42 ENGINEERING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS