A new method for heat transfer and fluid flow performance simulation of plate heat exchangers

Successful numerical simulation on heat transfer and fluid flow performances of plate heat exchangers is vital. Their complex structures often make the numerical calculation quite difficult and time-consuming. Conclusions drawn by the present work are promising for greatly simplifying the simulation. Different types of plates consisting of different numbers of periods are analyzed and it is concluded that the Nusselt number remains constant for different periods of different plates under different inlet velocities. The central friction coefficients behave the same as Nusselt number. For the first and last periods, the respective friction coefficient also remains for different plates. A small plate fraction with four periods is enough for performance prediction of any-sized plates.