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Article
Publication date: 5 February 2018

Ranganayakulu Chennu

The purpose of this study is to find the thermo-hydraulic performances of compact heat exchangers (CHE’s), which are strongly depending upon the prediction of performance of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to find the thermo-hydraulic performances of compact heat exchangers (CHE’s), which are strongly depending upon the prediction of performance of various types of heat transfer surfaces such as offset strip fins, wavy fins, rectangular fins, triangular fins, triangular and rectangular perforated fins in terms of Colburn “j” and Fanning friction “f” factors.

Design/methodology/approach

Numerical methods play a major role for analysis of compact plate-fin heat exchangers, which are cost-effective and fast. This paper presents the on-going research and work carried out earlier for single-phase steady-state heat transfer and pressure drop analysis on CHE passages and fins. An analysis of a cross-flow plate-fin compact heat exchanger, accounting for the individual effects of two-dimensional longitudinal heat conduction through the exchanger wall, inlet fluid flow maldistribution and inlet temperature non-uniformity are carried out using a Finite Element Method (FEM).

Findings

The performance deterioration of high-efficiency cross-flow plate-fin compact heat exchangers have been reviewed with the combined effects of wall longitudinal heat conduction and inlet fluid flow/temperature non-uniformity using a dedicated FEM analysis. It is found that the performance deterioration is quite significant in some typical applications due to the effects of wall longitudinal heat conduction and inlet fluid flow non-uniformity on cross-flow plate-fin heat exchangers. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program FLUENT has been used to predict the design data in terms of “j” and “f” factors for plate-fin heat exchanger fins. The suitable design data are generated using CFD analysis covering the laminar, transition and turbulent flow regimes for various types of fins.

Originality/value

The correlations for the friction factor “f” and Colburn factor “j” have been found to be good. The correlations can be used by the heat exchanger designers and can reduce the number of tests and modification of the prototype to a minimum for similar applications and types of fins.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 28 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 June 2010

Bengt Sunden

The purpose of this paper is to present some methods to analyse and determine the performance of compact heat exchangers; show the applicability of various computational…

1308

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present some methods to analyse and determine the performance of compact heat exchangers; show the applicability of various computational approaches and their limitations, provide examples to demonstrate the methods, and present results to highlight the opportunities and limitations of the considered methods.

Design/methodology/approach

Engineering methods based on thermal balances and correlations, as well as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods based on the finite control volume (CV) approach, are used.

Findings

Overall, it is found that computational heat transfer methods of various kind and complexity are useful tools if carefully handled and appropriately applied. However, there are several constraints, difficulties and limitations to be aware of. Radiators, extended surfaces and enhanced ducts are considered.

Originality/value

The paper presents a timely and coherent review and description of various computational methods to simulate the thermal‐hydraulic performance of compact heat exchanger issues.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 20 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2016

Ranganayakulu Chennu

The purpose of this paper is to carry out numerical modeling of single-blow transient analysis using FLUENT porous media model for estimation of heat transfer and pressure drop…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to carry out numerical modeling of single-blow transient analysis using FLUENT porous media model for estimation of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of offset and wavy fins.

Design/methodology/approach

A computational fluid dynamics program FLUENT has been used to predict the design data in terms of j and f factors for plate-fin heat exchanger wavy and offset strip fins, which are widely used in aerospace applications.

Findings

The suitable design data in terms of Colburn j and Fanning friction f factors is generated and presented correlations for wavy fins covering the laminar, transition and turbulent flow regimes.

Originality/value

The correlations for the friction factor f and Colburn factor j have been found to be good by comparing with other references. The correlations can be used by the heat exchanger designers and can reduce the number of tests and modification of the prototype to a minimum for similar applications and types of fins.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2008

G. Comini, C. Nonino and S. Savino

The purpose of this paper is to examine the modeling of simultaneous heat and mass transfer under dehumidifying conditions. Moist air cooling in tube‐fin exchangers is…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the modeling of simultaneous heat and mass transfer under dehumidifying conditions. Moist air cooling in tube‐fin exchangers is investigated using a finite element technique.

Design/methodology/approach

The model requires the solution of a conjugate problem, since interface temperatures must be calculated at the same time as temperature distributions in adjacent fluid and solid regions. The energy equation is solved in the whole domain, including the solid region, and the latent heat flux on the surfaces where condensation takes place is taken into account by means of an additional internal boundary condition.

Findings

Thermal performances for different Reynolds numbers of a typical two‐row tube‐fin exchanger are numerically analysed, for both in‐line and staggered arrangements of tubes. The results justify the great importance that the ratio between latent and overall rates of heat transfer has in the design of compact heat exchangers.

Practical implications

In this work, the capabilities of the proposed methodology to deal with industrial applications in the field of compact exchangers are outlined.

Originality/value

The paper presents an effective approach to the solution of conjugate conduction and convection problems with simultaneous heat and mass transfer. The formulation is completely general, even if the finite element method is used in the calculations.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 18 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Babak Lotfi, Bengt Sunden and Qiu-Wang Wang

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the numerical fluid-structure interaction (FSI) framework for the simulations of mechanical behavior of new vortex generators (VGs) in…

416

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the numerical fluid-structure interaction (FSI) framework for the simulations of mechanical behavior of new vortex generators (VGs) in smooth wavy fin-and-elliptical tube (SWFET) heat exchanger using the ANSYS MFX Multi-field® solver.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-dimensional FSI approach is proposed in this paper to provide better understanding of the performance of the VG structures in SWFET heat exchangers associated with the alloy material properties and geometric factors. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with shear stress transport turbulence model are applied for modeling of the turbulent flow in SWFET heat exchanger and the linear elastic Cauchy-Navier model is solved for the structural von Mises stress and elastic strain analysis in the VGs region.

Findings

Parametric studies conducted in the course of this research successfully identified illustrate that the maximum magnitude of von Mises stress and elastic strain occurs at the root of the VGs and depends on geometrical parameters and material types. These results reveal that the titanium alloy VGs shows a slightly higher strength and lower elastic strain compared to the aluminum alloy VGs.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first in the literature that provides original information mechanical behavior of a SWFET heat exchanger model with new VGs in the field of FSI coupling technique.

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2018

Jyothiprakash K.H., Krishnegowda Y.T., Krishna Venkataram and K.N. Seetharamu

Heat exchangers working in cryogenic temperature ranges are strongly affected by heat ingression from the ambient. This paper aims to investigate the effect of ambient heat

Abstract

Purpose

Heat exchangers working in cryogenic temperature ranges are strongly affected by heat ingression from the ambient. This paper aims to investigate the effect of ambient heat-in-leak on the performance of a three-fluid cross-flow cryogenic heat exchanger.

Design/methodology/approach

The governing equations are derived for a three-fluid cross-flow cryogenic heat exchanger based on the conservation of energy principle. For given fluid inlet temperatures, the governing equations are solved using the finite element method to obtain exit temperatures of the three-fluid exchanger. The performance of the heat exchanger is determined using effectiveness-number of transfer units (e-NTU) method. In the present analysis, the amount of ambient heat-in-leak to the heat exchanger is accounted by two parameters Ht and Hb. The variation of the heat exchanger effectiveness due to ambient heat-in-leak is analyzed for various non-dimensional parameters defined to study the heat exchanger performance.

Findings

The effect of ambient heat in leak to the heat exchanger from the surrounding is to increase the dimensionless exit mean temperature of all three fluids. An increase in heat in leak parameter (Ht = Hb) value from 0 to 0.1 reduces hot fluid effectiveness by 32 per cent for an NTU value of 10.

Originality Value

The effect of heat-in-leak on a three-fluid cross-flow cryogenic heat exchanger is significant, but so far, no investigations are carried out. The results establish the efficacy of the method and throw light on important considerations involved in the design of such heat exchangers.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 28 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2011

Ranganayakulu Chennu and Pallavi Paturu

In aerospace applications, due to the severe limitations on the weight and space envelope, it is mandatory to use high performance compact heat exchangers (CHEs) for enhancing the…

Abstract

Purpose

In aerospace applications, due to the severe limitations on the weight and space envelope, it is mandatory to use high performance compact heat exchangers (CHEs) for enhancing the heat transfer rate. The most popularly used ones in CHEs are the plain fins, offset strip fins (OSFs), louvered fins and wavy fins. Amongst these fin types, wavy and offset fins assume a lot of importance due to their enhanced thermo‐hydraulic performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of geometrical fin parameters, in addition to Reynolds number, on the thermo‐hydraulic performance of OSFs.

Design/methodology/approach

A computational fluid dynamics approach is used to conduct a number of numerical experiments for determination of thermo‐hydraulic performance of OSFs considering the various geometrical parameters, which are generally used in the aerospace industry. These investigations include the study of flow pattern for laminar, transition and turbulent regions. Studies are conducted with different fin geometries and comparisons are made with available data in open literature. Finally, the generalized correlations are developed for OSFs taking all geometrical parameters into account for the entire range of operations of the aerospace industry covering laminar, transition and turbulent regions. In addition, the effects of various geometrical parameters are presented as parametric studies.

Findings

Thermo‐hydraulic design of CHEs is strongly dependent upon the predicted/measured dimensionless performance (Colburn factor “j” and Fanning friction “f” vs Reynolds number Re) of heat transfer surfaces. Several types of OSFs used in the compact plate‐fin heat exchangers are analyzed numerically.

Research limitations/implications

The present numerical analysis is carried out for “air” media and hence these results may not be accurate for other fluids with large variations of Prandtl numbers.

Practical implications

In open literature, these fins are generally evaluated as a function of Reynolds number experimentally, which are expensive. However, their performance will also depend to some extent on geometrical parameters such as fin thickness, fin spacing, offset fin length and fin height.

Originality/value

This numerical estimation can reduce the number of tests/experiments to a minimum for similar applications.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 21 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 September 2013

Jules Voguelin Simo Tala, Serge Russeil, Daniel Bougeard and Jean-Luc Harion

In finned-tube heat exchangers, the array of tubes generates three-dimensional vortices at fin-tube junctions. Theses vortices known as horseshoe vortex (HSV) system are…

Abstract

Purpose

In finned-tube heat exchangers, the array of tubes generates three-dimensional vortices at fin-tube junctions. Theses vortices known as horseshoe vortex (HSV) system are responsible of flow mixing and heat transfer increase. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the effect of the fin spacing on the formation, the spatial evolution and dissipation of the HSV system at fin-tube junctions in a two-rows finned-tube heat exchanger. The global characterisation of the heat exchanger performance is also presented.

Design/methodology/approach

The flow structure is numerically analysed through the use of computational fluid dynamics tools. The different vortices of the HSV system are highlighted and quantitatively analysed at each fin-tube junction with vorticity, wall shear stress analysis and two-dimensional streamline plots around tubes.

Findings

The results show that the primary and secondary vortices of the HSV system have antagonistic behaviors with respect to the azimuthal angle variation. The optimum fin spacing ratio E/D that generates the most intense first primary vortex in the HSV system lies between 0.20 and 0.25. Similar observation are made on the thermalhydraulic performance of the heat exchanger as j/f exhibits a maximum value for a fin spacing ratio E/D=0.25.

Research limitations/implications

A detailed URANS simulation shows that even if the flow remains steady in the core of the heat exchanger, unsteady behavior is noticed in the wake of the second tube.

Originality/value

In this study, the flow topology is quantitatively analysed in successive radial planes around heat exchanger tubes. The strong effect of the fin spacing on the HSV generation and dissipation is deeply analysed.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 23 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Babak Lotfi and Bengt Ake Sunden

This study aims to computational numerical simulations to clarify and explore the influences of periodic cellular lattice (PCL) morphological parameters – such as lattice…

1155

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to computational numerical simulations to clarify and explore the influences of periodic cellular lattice (PCL) morphological parameters – such as lattice structure topology (simple cubic, body-centered cubic, z-reinforced body-centered cubic [BCCZ], face-centered cubic and z-reinforced face-centered cubic [FCCZ] lattice structures) and porosity value ( ) – on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the novel trussed fin-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger (FETHX), which has led to a deeper understanding of the superior heat transfer enhancement ability of the PCL structure.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is proposed in this paper to provide better understanding of the fluid flow and heat transfer behavior of the PCL structures in the trussed FETHXs associated with different structure topologies and high-porosities. The flow governing equations of the trussed FETHX are solved by the CFD software ANSYS CFX® and use the Menter SST turbulence model to accurately predict flow characteristics in the fluid flow region.

Findings

The thermal-hydraulic performance benchmarks analysis – such as field synergy performance and performance evaluation criteria – conducted during this research successfully identified demonstrates that if the high porosity of all PCL structures decrease to 92%, the best thermal-hydraulic performance is provided. Overall, according to the obtained outcomes, the trussed FETHX with the advantages of using BCCZ lattice structure at 92% porosity presents good thermal-hydraulic performance enhancement among all the investigated PCL structures.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first in the literature that provides thorough thermal-hydraulic characteristics of a novel trussed FETHX with high-porosity PCL structures.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2008

Colin F. McDonald, Aristide F. Massardo, Colin Rodgers and Aubrey Stone

This paper seeks to evaluate the potential of heat exchanged aeroengines for future Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), helicopter, and aircraft propulsion, with emphasis placed on…

7832

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to evaluate the potential of heat exchanged aeroengines for future Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), helicopter, and aircraft propulsion, with emphasis placed on reduced emissions, lower fuel burn, and less noise.

Design/methodology/approach

Aeroengine performance analyses were carried out covering a wide range of parameters for more complex thermodynamic cycles. This led to the identification of major component features and the establishing of preconceptual aeroengine layout concepts for various types of recuperated and ICR variants.

Findings

Novel aeroengine architectures were identified for heat exchanged turboshaft, turboprop, and turbofan variants covering a wide range of applications. While conceptual in nature, the results of the analyses and design studies generally concluded that heat exchanged engines represent a viable solution to meet demanding defence and commercial aeropropulsion needs in the 2015‐2020 timeframe, but they would require extensive development.

Research limitations/implications

As highlighted in Parts I and II, early development work was focused on the use of recuperation, but this is only practical with compressor pressure ratios up to about 10. For today's aeroengines with pressure ratios up to about 50, improvement in SFC can only be realised by incorporating intercooling and recuperation. The new aeroengine concepts presented are clearly in an embryonic stage, but these should enable gas turbine and heat exchanger specialists to advance the technology by conducting more in‐depth analytical and design studies to establish higher efficiency and “greener” gas turbine aviation propulsion systems.

Originality/value

It is recognised that meeting future environmental and economic requirements will have a profound effect on aeroengine design and operation, and near‐term efforts will be focused on improving conventional simple‐cycle engines. This paper has addressed the longer‐term potential of heat exchanged aeroengines and has discussed novel design concepts. A deployment strategy, aimed at gaining confidence with emphasis placed on assuring engine reliability, has been suggested, with the initial development and flight worthiness test of a small recuperated turboprop engine for UAVs, followed by a larger recuperated turboshaft engine for a military helicopter, and then advancement to a larger and far more complex ICR turbofan engine.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 80 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Keywords

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