Effect of Secondary Vortex Flow Near Contact Point on Thermal Performance in the Plate Heat Exchanger with Different Corrugation Profiles

Hyung Ju Lee and Seong Hyuk Lee
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Hyung Ju Lee: School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea
Seong Hyuk Lee: School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: The present study numerically investigates thermal performance and turbulent flow characteristics of chevron-type plate heat exchangers with sinusoidal, trapezoidal, triangular, and elliptical corrugation profiles. The commercial code of ANSYS Fluent (v. 17.0) is used for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with the realizable k - ε model. In particular, we focus on the influence of configuration shape on a substantial change in flow direction near the contact point, yielding local vorticity. As a result, secondary vortical motions are observed in the flow passage with vorticity that is distributed locally and which changes near the contact point. Higher flow mixing generated and distributed by the secondary vortical motions contributes to the increase of the Colburn j -factor as well as the friction factor. The highest Colburn j -factor and friction factor are obtained for an elliptical profile, compared to other shapes, because of the increase in the vortex strength near the contact point.

Keywords: plate heat exchanger; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); corrugation profile; Colburn j -factor; friction factor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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