Flow and Heat Transfer Prediction in a Corrugated Plate Heat Exchanger using a CFD Code

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of using a general purpose CFD code to compute the characteristics of the flow field, and of the heat transfer augmentation in conduits with corrugated walls, encountered in commercial plate heat exchangers (PHE). The CFD code is used to simulate the performance of a PHE model comprised of stainless steel plates, following a herringbone design and assembled for single-pass countercurrent flow. The code is validated by comparing the numerical results with experimental data on pressure drop and overall temperature differences acquired for the countercurrent flow of water at both sides of the model PHE. The limited data published in the literature are also in fairly good agreement with the results of the present study. It is shown that the CFD code is an effective and reliable tool for studying the effect of various geometrical configurations on the optimum design of a PHE.

Effects of dissipation and temperature-dependent viscosity on the performance of plate heat exchangers

“…By plotting the friction coefficient and the Nusselt number as functions of the Reynolds number they found that the transition from laminar to turbulent conditions occurs at Re % 300. Kanaris et al [17] calculated the steady-state flow field between three corrugated plates and obtained good agreement with experimental values. They found that the Nusselt number and the friction coefficient increase with the Reynolds number.…”

CFD modelling of profiled-membrane channels for reverse electrodialysis

“…Many studies have been carried out on channels provided with grooves [21][22][23][24], and geometries with obstructions, more similar to the profiled membranes, applied for passive micromixers [25][26][27][28][29] Moreover, several papers can be found in the literature on hydrodynamics and heat transfer predictions via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in corrugated channels, mainly with reference to heat exchangers [30][31][32][33][34], but very few woks have been devoted to mass transfer phenomena in such geometries. Zhang [35] carried out CFD modelling of fluid flow and mass transfer in a crosscorrugated triangular duct by simulating water vapour transport in dry air; correlations of friction factor and Sherwood number with the Reynolds number were proposed.…”

Study on the turbulence model sensitivity for various cross-corrugated surfaces applied to matrix type heat exchanger

“…Kanaris et al [3] studied the capability of a general purpose commercial CFD code to predict the flow and heat transfer characteristics of a cross-corrugated plate. They used the SST model as the most appropriate turbulence model.…”