Numerical analysis of compact plate-fin heat exchangers for aerospace applications

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.

Experimental Investigation of Additively Manufactured High-Temperature Heat Exchangers

“…This fact applies to all heat exchangers and versions studied here. The deviation between simulation and measurement thus correspond to the values determined by Chennu [28] and [38] in his calculations for off-set strip fin heat exchangers in the laminar region. The analysis of the f-factor shows a scatter of about ±5 % due to the direct evaluation of measured data, nevertheless the agreement with the numerical data over the whole Reynolds number range can also be considered as good.…”

Finite element (GFEM) simulations on the effect of microwave heating for lossy dielectric samples with various shapes (circle, square and triangle)

“…Finite element based simulations were carried out by earlier researchers to study various applications of heat transport (Zhong et al, 1992;Dash and Chattopadhyay, 1993;Nicolai and DeBaerdemaeker, 1997;Manzari and Manzari, 1998;Andreev and Todorov, 2006;Taler et al, 2017;Stryczniewicz et al, 2017;Frackowiak and Cialkowski, 2018;Chennu, 2018;Jyothiprakash et al, 2018). The current study focuses on spatial microwave power and temperature distributions within samples of various shapes (circle, square and triangle) via solving energy balance and microwave propagation equations using Galerkin finite element method (GFEM).…”

Design and Optimization of Cross-Corrugated Triangular Ducts with Trapezoidal Baffles Based on Response Surface Methodology and CFD

“…The plate heat exchanger is a highly efficient and energy-saving piece of heat exchange equipment with proven heat transfer efficiencies of 1.2 to 2.1 times that of tube heat exchangers [2]. It is widely used in HVAC and other industrial fields, including electronic thermal management, aerospace, marine, and others [3][4][5]. Improvements in the energy efficiency of plate heat exchangers, even minor ones, can significantly impact building energy conservation and, by extension, global energy usage.…”