Investigation of the thermal efficiency of a staggered elliptic-tube heat exchanger for aeroengine applications

In this paper, a numerical investigation of the thermal performance of a heat exchanger designed for aero engine applications is performed with the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). For this purpose, the exact geometry of the heat exchanger was modeled, and additionally the use of a porous medium methodology was adopted. For the latter the behaviour of the heat exchanger was described by experimentally derived pressure drop and heat transfer laws. The heat transfer performance of the heat exchanger can be described by the Nusselt number of the flow and the temperature distribution inside the heat exchanger. At the present work the CFD results regarding the overall and local Nusselt numbers and the temperature distributions were compared to available experimental data and were found to be in agreement. Thus, both approaches could be used for the detailed investigation of the thermal performance of the heat exchanger so that useful conclusions could be derived.     

Heat and Moisture Transfer in a Rectangular Cavity Partially Filled with Hygroscopic Porous Media

Abstract

This work deals with turbulent natural convection heat and moisture transfer with thermal radiation in a rectangular cavity partially filled with hygroscopic porous medium. The governing equations for the momentum and heat transfer in both free fluid and hygroscopic porous media and moisture content transfer in hygroscopic porous medium were solved by the finite element method. Comparisons with experimental and numerical results in the literature have been carried out. Effects of thermal radiation, Rayleigh number on natural convection and heat transfer in both free fluid and porous medium and moisture content transfer in porous medium were analyzed. It was found that surface thermal radiation can significantly change the temperature and moisture content fields in the regions of free flow and hygroscopic porous medium. With the increase in Rayleigh number, the temperature of porous medium at the interface increased slightly, and the magnitude of moisture change becomes smaller.     

Simulations of flow and heat transfer in a serpentine heat exchanger having dispersed resistance with porous-continuum and continuum models

Numerical simulations of flow and heat transfer in a serpentine heat exchanger configuration are presented to demonstrate application of porous media techniques in heat exchanger analyses. The simulations are conducted using two different approaches. In the first approach, a porous continuum homogeneous model (PCM), or macroscopic model, is applied. The solid and fluid phases are modeled as a single, homogeneous medium having anisotropic effective properties that are calculated separately from unit cell scale analyses and are made available to the macroscopic analysis. In the second approach, a continuum heterogeneous model (CM), or microscopic model, is employed to solve the momentum and energy equations for the fluid phase. The solid phase, a regular interruption to the flowfield, is, in this example, composed of square rods in a spatially periodic pattern. Because the microscopic model includes computation of all the flow features, computation time is considerable. A comparison shows the advantage of using the porous-continuum model, a large savings of computation time. This is particularly valuable in parametric studies. The effective properties in the macroscopic model include permeability values, Forchheimer coefficients, thermal dispersion coefficients, and heat transfer coefficients, constructed from results of periodic unit cell scale analyses, done separately. The results from the microscopic model are volume averaged over the porous medium representative elementary volume (REV) in order to generate averaged values for comparison to the results of the macroscopic model. Profiles of average velocity and temperature at various axial and longitudinal locations within the serpentine section of the example heat exchanger show agreement between the volume-average of the microscopic model results and the macroscopic model results. Further, comparisons are discussed in terms of local and global residuals from the models. It is found that local residuals of the calculations correlate well with the dimensionless product of the streamline curvature (the inverse of the curvature radius) and the scale of the unit cell. Global residuals, which are local residuals averaged over REVs, correlate with packing number (number of unit cells within the serpentine section). The packing number is used for estimating the global residual errors incurred when using the macroscopic model.     

Comparison of heat transfer conditions in tube bundle cross-flow for different tube shapes

Detailed transient numerical simulations of fluid and heat flow were performed for a number of heat exchanger segments with cylindrical, ellipsoidal and wing-shaped tubes in a staggered arrangement. The purpose of the analysis was to get an insight of local heat transfer and fluid flow conditions in a heat exchanger and to establish widely applicable drag coefficient and Stanton number correlations for the heat exchanger integral model, based on average flow variables. The simulation results revealed much more complex flow behavior than reported in current literature. For each of the almost 100 analyzed cases, the time distributions of the Reynolds number, the drag coefficient and the Stanton number were recorded, and their average values calculated. Based on these average values, the drag coefficient and the Stanton number correlations were constructed as polynomial functions of the Reynolds number and the hydraulic diameter. The comparison of the collected results also allows more general conclusions on efficiency and stability of the heat transfer process in tube bundles.     

Improvement of thermal characteristics of latent heat thermal energy storage units using carbon-fiber brushes: experiments and modeling

Brushes made of carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity are inserted on the shell side of a heat exchanger to enhance the conductive heat transfer rates in phase change materials. The experimental results show that the brushes essentially improve the heat exchange rate during the charge and discharge processes even when the volume fractions of the fibers are about one percent. A three-dimensional model describing the heat transfer in the heat exchanger is numerically solved. The model predicts well the experimental outlet fluid temperatures and the local temperatures in the composite.     

Numerical simulation of fluid flow and convection heat transfer in sintered porous plate channels

Fluid flow and convective heat transfer of water in sintered bronze porous plate channels was investigated numerically. The numerical simulations assumed a simple cubic structure formed by uniformly sized particles with small contact areas and a finite-thickness wall subject to a constant heat flux at the surface which mirrors the experimental setup. The permeability and inertia coefficient were calculated numerically according to the modified Darcy’s model. The numerical calculation results are in agreement with well-known correlation results. The calculated local heat transfer coefficients on the plate channel surface, which agreed well with the experimental data, increased with mass flow rate and decreased slightly along the axial direction. The convection heat transfer coefficients between the solid particles and the fluid and the volumetric heat transfer coefficients in the porous media predicted by the numerical results increase with mass flow rate and decrease with increasing particle diameter. The numerical results also illustrate the temperature difference between the solid particles and the fluid which indicates the local thermal non-equilibrium in porous media.     

Experimental and Numerical Simulations of Flow and Heat Transfer in Heat Exchanger Elements Using Liquid Crystal Thermography

Experimental and numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow were conducted for classic heat exchanger elements (flat plate with fin-tubes in-line, staggered and with vortex generators) and corrugated-undulated ducts under transitional and weakly turbulent conditions.The dependence of average heat transfer and pressure drop on Reynolds number and geometrical parameters was investigated. Distributions of local heat transfer coefficient were obtained by using liquid crystal thermography and surface-averaged values were computed. Three-dimensional numerical simulations were conducted by a finite-volume method using a low-Reynolds number k-e model under the assumption of fully developed flow. Computed flow fields provided otherwise inaccessible information on the flow patterns and the mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement.     

Simulation of laminar impinging jet on a porous medium with a thermal non-equilibrium model

This work shows numerical simulations of an impinging jet on a flat plate covered with a layer of a porous material. Macroscopic equations for mass and momentum are obtained based on the volume-average concept. Two macroscopic models are employed for analyzing energy transport, namely the one-energy equation model, based on the Local Thermal Equilibrium assumption (LTE), and the two-energy equation closure, where distinct transport equations for the fluid and the porous matrix follow the Local Non-Thermal Equilibrium hypothesis (LNTE). The numerical technique employed for discretizing the governing equations was the finite volume method with a boundary-fitted non-orthogonal coordinate system. The SIMPLE algorithm was used to handle the pressure–velocity coupling. Parameters such as porosity, porous layer thickness, material permeability and thermal conductivity ratio were varied in order to analyze their effects on flow and heat transport. Results indicate that for low porosities, low permeabilities, thin porous layers and for high thermal conductivity ratios, a different distribution of local Nusselt number at the wall is calculated depending on the energy model applied. The use of the LNTE model indicates that it is advantageous to use a layer of highly conducting and highly porous material attached to the hot wall.     

Conceptual optimization of a rotary heat exchanger with a porous core

The present article numerically optimizes the thermal performance of a rotary heat exchanger (RHEx) where its internal structure is modeled as a porous medium. The objective is to maximize the RHEx's heat transfer rate per unit of frontal surface area (q″). The flow velocity through the porous matrix respects Darcy's law. Two thermal conditions between the solid matrix and the fluid are considered: (i) local thermal equilibrium – LTE and (ii), non-local thermal equilibrium – NLTE. The numerical calculations, which are implemented using a finite volume formulation, allow us to optimize two design variables, the length L of the heat exchanger and the porosity φ. The numerical results show that the figure of merit is substantially affected by both design variables and that optimal values of L and φ can be obtained. The numerical experiments also show that the optimum porosity is not a function of the pressure difference driving the flow across the RHEx. The study ends by addressing the effects of the porosity distribution and differential periods between the hot and cold sides of RHEx on the figure of merit. The numerical results are supported by a scale analysis.     

Numerical study of conjugated heat transfer in metal foam filled double-pipe

The two equation numerical model has been applied for parallel flow double-pipe heat exchanger filled with open cell metal foams. The model fully considered solid–fluid conjugated heat transfer process coupling heat conduction and convection in open cell metal foam solid matrix, interface wall and fluid in both inner and annular space in heat exchanger. The non-Darcy effect and the wall thickness are also taken into account. The interface wall heat flux distribution along the axial direction is predicted. The numerical model is firstly verified and then the influences of solid heat conductivity, metal foam porosity, pore density, relative heat conductivity and inner tube radius of the heat exchanger on dimensionless temperature distribution and heat transfer performance of heat exchanger are numerically studied. It is revealed that the proposed numerical model can effectively display the real physical heat transfer process in the double pipe heat exchanger. It is expected to provide useful information for the design of metal foam filled heat exchanger.     

A study on the simulation and experiment of a microchannel counter-flow heat exchanger

Numerical simulations and experimental tests were carried out to study the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics for a rectangular-shaped microchannel heat exchanger. Moreover, influences of gravity to heat transfer and pressure drop behaviors of the microchannel heat exchanger were presented by variation of the physical inclinations of the microchannel heat exchanger system used for experiments. For experimental results, a heat flux of 17.4 W/cm² was achieved for the heat exchanger. Besides, the results obtained for the actual effectiveness and for the effectiveness (the so-called effectiveness-NTU method) were determined. In this study, the pressure drop decreases as the water temperature rises. As the pressure drop increases from 880 to 4400 Pa, the mass flow rate increases from 0.1812 to 0.8540 g/s. In addition, the results obtained from numerical analyses were in good agreement with those obtained from experiments, with discrepancies of the heat transfer coefficient estimated to be less than 9%.     

Numerical development of a heat transfer and pressure drop porosity model for a heat exchanger for aero engine applications

Heat exchangers are used in various applications. In a typical CFD approach, where it is necessary to model the flow in a device with a heat exchanger, a first step can be the construction of a very detailed mesh modeling each flow passage inside the device. However, this approach can lead to very fine grids with high demands of CPU power and memory requirements. In order to overcome this problem, the presence of the heat exchanger can be modeled as a porous medium having the same thermal and flow behaviour as the original device. In this work, a generalized porous medium model was developed for a heat exchanger designed to be used as a heat recuperator for an aero engine. For the porosity model a modified anisotropic formulation of the Darcy–Forchheimer pressure drop law was introduced together with a heat transfer model in the form of a Nusselt–Reynolds–Prandtl numbers correlation. For the derivation of the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients various data from experimental measurements were used. In order to assess the performance of the proposed model, CFD computations were performed. For all the examined cases, the CFD results were in close agreement with the experimental data and thus, the developed porosity model could sufficiently, describe the macroscopic behaviour of the heat exchanger.     

Numerical simulation of turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in heat exchangers fitted with porous media

Numerical simulations have been carried out to investigate the turbulent heat transfer enhancement in the pipe filled with porous media. Two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical simulations using the k–? turbulent model is used to calculate the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a pipe filled with porous media. The parameters studied include the Reynolds number (Re = 5000–15,000), the Darcy number (Da = 10^?1–10^?6), and the porous radius ratio (e = 0.0–1.0). The numerical results show that the flow field can be adjusted and the thickness of boundary layer can be decreased by the inserted porous medium so that the heat transfer can be enhanced in the pipe. The local distributions of the Nusselt number along the flow direction increase with the increase of the Reynolds number and thickness of the porous layer, but increase with the decreasing Darcy number. For a porous radius ratio less than about 0.6, the effect of the Darcy number on the pressure drop is not that significant. The optimum porous radius ratio is around 0.8 for the range of the parameters investigated, which can be used to enhance heat transfer in heat exchangers.     

Investigation of a Confined Laminar Impinging Jet on a Plate with a Porous Layer Using the Preconditioned Density-Based Algorithm

The preconditioned density-based algorithm and two-domain approach were used to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of a confined laminar impinging jet on a plate covered with porous layer. In the porous zone, the momentum equations were formulated by the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model; the thermal nonequilibrium model was adopted for the energy equation. At the porous/fluid interface, the applicability and influence of different hydrodynamic and thermal interfacial conditions were analyzed for the problem. The governing equations were solved by the preconditioned density-based finite-volume method, with preconditioning matrix for equations of porous domain adopted, aiming to eliminate the equation stiffness of porous seepage flows. The effects of Reynolds number, porosity, Darcy number, thermal conductivity ratio, Biot number, and porous layer thickness on the flow pattern and local heat transfer performance were studied. Results indicate that the Reynolds number and porosity don't strongly influence the flow pattern of porous channel, while the Darcy number and porous layer thickness have obvious influence on the flow pattern. The heat transfer performance are greatly influenced by the parameters studied.     

A boundary layer analysis of heat transfer by free convection from permeable horizontal cylinders of elliptic cross-section in porous media using a thermal non-equilibrium model

This work uses a thermal non-equilibrium model to study the free convection boundary layer flow driven by temperature gradients near a permeable horizontal cylinder of elliptic cross-section with constant wall temperature in a fluid-saturated porous medium. A coordinate transformation is used to obtain the nonsimilar boundary layer equations. The transformed boundary layer equations are then solved by the cubic spline collocation method. Results for the local Nusselt numbers are presented as functions of the porosity scaled thermal conductivity ratio, the heat transfer coefficient between solid and fluid phases, the transpiration parameter, and the aspect ratio when the major axis of the elliptical cylinder is vertical (slender orientation) and horizontal (blunt orientation). An increase in the porosity scaled thermal conductivity ratio or the heat transfer coefficient between the solid and fluid phases increases the heat transfer rates. Moreover, the use of suction (positive transpiration parameter) tends to increase the heat transfer rates between the porous medium and the surface.     

Fully developed natural convection heat and mass transfer in a vertical annular porous medium with asymmetric wall temperatures and concentrations

This work examines the effects of the modified Darcy number, the buoyancy ratio and the inner radius-gap ratio on the fully developed natural convection heat and mass transfer in a vertical annular non-Darcy porous medium with asymmetric wall temperatures and concentrations. The exact solutions for the important characteristics of fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer are derived by using a non-Darcy flow model. The modified Darcy number is related to the flow resistance of the porous matrix. For the free convection heat and mass transfer in an annular duct filled with porous media, increasing the modified Darcy number tends to increase the volume flow rate, total heat rate added to the fluid, and the total species rate added to the fluid. Moreover, an increase in the buoyancy ratio or in the inner radius-gap ratio leads to an increase in the volume flow rate, the total heat rate added to the fluid, and the total species rate added to the fluid.     

Numerical analysis of thermal response tests with a groundwater flow and heat transfer model

The Kelvin line-source equation, used to analyze thermal response tests, describes conductive heat transfer in a homogeneous medium with a constant temperature at infinite boundaries. The equation is based on assumptions that are valid for most ground-coupled heat pump environments with the exception of geological settings where there is significant groundwater flow, heterogeneous distribution of subsurface properties, a high geothermal gradient or significant atmospheric temperature variations. To address these specific cases, an alternative method to analyze thermal response tests was developed. The method consists in estimating parameters by reproducing the output temperature signal recorded during a test with a numerical groundwater flow and heat transfer model. The input temperature signal is specified at the entrance of the ground heat exchanger, where flow and heat transfer are computed in 2D planes representing piping and whose contributions are added to the 3D porous medium. Results obtained with this method are compared to those of the line-source model for a test performed under standard conditions. A second test conducted in waste rock at the South Dump of the Doyon Mine, where conditions deviate from the line-source assumptions, is analyzed with the numerical model. The numerical model improves the representation of the physical processes involved during a thermal response test compared to the line-source equation, without a significant increase in computational time.     

Liquid cooling of a microprocessor: experimentation and simulation of a sub-millimeter channel heat exchanger

Abstract

A heat exchanger dedicated to the cooling of a microprocessor has been designed and realized. It consists of a bottom wall in contact with the processor and a cover that has been dug to a depth of 200?μm on one side and 1?mm on the other. Thus, by turning the cover, the hydraulic diameter of the channel can be changed. Both hydraulic and thermal performances of this heat exchanger have been experimentally tested. Three-dimensional numerical simulations were simultaneously carried out and good agreement was obtained. The influence of the distributor and the collector on the distribution of fluid flow and heat fluxes is emphasized. A new concept of micro-heat exchanger is proposed for the cooling of electronics devices for which wall to fluid heat exchange quality and pumping effect are critical. The ability of a liquid heat exchanger involving a dynamic deformation of one of its walls to cool a microprocessor is investigated. Three-dimensional transient numerical simulations of fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer were performed using commercial software. Effect of geometrical and actuation parameters has been explored, demonstrating the ability of such heat exchanger to simultaneously pump the fluid and enhance the heat transfer.     

板式换热器性能的数值模拟

建立了人字形板式换热器冷热双流道的流体流动与传热计算模型,利用计算流体力学软件对5组不同速度工况下换热器内流体的流动和传热进行了数值模拟,分析了换热器流道内的速度场、温度场和压力场.结果表明:数值模拟得到的板式换热器进、出口温差和压降与试验测量值的误差均小于6%;换热器内流体的流动和传热存在明显的不均匀性,导致其进、出口的另一侧出现明显的传热"死区";换热器的总传热系数和流道阻力均随着流体流速的增大而增大.     

Transient thermal behavior of porous media under oscillating flow condition

An analytical characterization of the heat transfer in an oscillating flow through a porous medium is presented in this work. Based on a two-equation model, two important dimensionless parameters are identified as the ratio of the thermal capacities between the solid and fluid phases and the ratio of the interstitial heat conductance between the phases to the fluid thermal capacity. The analytic solutions are obtained for both the fluid and solid temperature variations, and the heat transfer characteristics between the phases are classified into four regimes. In addition, a criterion for the validity of the local thermal equilibrium is suggested in a simple form as the ratio of the two time scales intrinsically involved in any transient heat transfer in porous media, namely the time scale relevant to the thermal inertia of porous media and the time scale pertinent to the transient variation of the boundary condition.