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CFD Investigation of Heat Exchangers with Circular and Elliptic Cross-Sectional Channels

Aliev, Ruslan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1452678890

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Cleveland State University, Washkewicz College of Engineering.
Design of the fluid flow and heat transfer components utilizing the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is relatively new yet cheaper and accurate method that becomes popular and reliable today. In this thesis, design of a heat exchanger using CFD analysis technique is considered. A key investigation of this devise is the selection of the tubes and connection them to inlet and outlet manifolds. Correctly selected tube size and tube cross section impacts the heat exchanger performance. Thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the flow in circular and elliptic tubes connected to the inlet and outlet manifolds have been computationally investigated for maximum Figure of Merit. The tube with high Figure of Merit is the one with high heat transfer rate and low pressure drop. The tube has four different configurations of the cross section: a circular tube and three elliptic tubes with aspect ratios = 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25. All tubes are constrained to have the same wetted perimeter and the length, thus have the same heat transfer area. The tube is a smooth straight tube that has the length of 0.3048 m (12 in.) and wetted perimeter of 0.0798 m (3.1416 in.). The tube wall thickness is negligible. The contribution of the inlet and outlet manifolds is examined. A wide range of Reynolds numbers is covered, Re =100 (laminar flow), 10,000 (transitional flow), and 20,000 (turbulent flow). ANSYS FLUENT commercial code has been utilized in this investigation. The code was validated matching with experimental correlations (for developing hydrodynamic and thermal flow) available in the literature. The CFD simulation results were in agreement with the experimental correlation within 5%. This investigation started with simulating 12 different flow conditions inside the tubes without manifolds: three sets with four different tube options (as stated above) in each set. Each set represents the different flow regime: laminar transitional and turbulent with set Reynold number value, as noted earlier. All CFD simulation results were evaluated for their Figure of Merit (“Goodness” factor). The elliptic tube with aspect ratio = 0.25 showed the highest figure of merit for all cases of Re. In the following stage of this research the results of selected tube (aspect ratio = 0.25) was integrated with inlet and outlet manifolds. In this scenario only laminar and turbulent flow regimes were examined. The contribution of the inlet and outlet manifolds overall resulted a negative effect. The reasons of that impact are the following: (1) the inlet flow condition into the tube is no longer uniform (as was assumed in the earlier study), (2) the pressure drop in the manifolds are significantly higher than that in the tube. and (3) the tube length investigated is short. Despite significantly improved thermal characteristics of the tube flow after adding the manifolds, the magnitude of increased friction factor influenced the value of Figure of Merit.
Mounir Ibrahim, PhD (Committee Chair)
Majid Rashidi, PhD (Committee Member)
Asuquo Ebiana, PhD (Committee Member)
196 p.
Aerospace Engineering; Automotive Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Nuclear Engineering; Petroleum Engineering
CFD analysis; circular and elliptic tube flow; heat exchanger; internal fluid flow; heat transfer; internal forced convection; figure of merit

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Aliev, R. (2015). CFD Investigation of Heat Exchangers with Circular and Elliptic Cross-Sectional Channels [Master's thesis, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1452678890

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Aliev, Ruslan. CFD Investigation of Heat Exchangers with Circular and Elliptic Cross-Sectional Channels. 2015. Cleveland State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1452678890.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Aliev, Ruslan. "CFD Investigation of Heat Exchangers with Circular and Elliptic Cross-Sectional Channels." Master's thesis, Cleveland State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1452678890

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Cleveland State University and OhioLINK.