CFD simulation of a stratified flow at the inlet of a compact plate heat exchanger

Abstract

The work described in this paper considers 3D CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations of an adiabatic stratified liquid-vapor flow at the inlet of a compact plate heat exchanger using the commercial CFD code "FLUENT" and an in-house code "NEPTUNE 3D" developed by CEA and EDF. An experimental loop is built up that represents a compact plate heat exchanger in which the liquid and vapor flow rates in the different channels are measured and the flow inside the cylindrical distributor of diameter greater than that of the inlet tube can be visualized. The numerical predictions showed the good agreement with the experimental measurements. The interfacial shear stress was calculated in a steady stratified flow and compared with the computed shear stresses by the two codes.