| One effective advanced type of heat exchangers with potential applications in industry is a flow network, which consists of mutually intersecting holes in a plate. The existing studies pertinent to transport phenomena in the flow networks have been limited to the experimental studies and only a few concerns with heat transfer.;In this research, analysis on the wide range of flow networks is numerically performed. Evaluation on the three conventional turbulence models, i.e., the k-$varepsilon$ model, the RNG k-$varepsilon$ model, and the RSM, and four inlet boundary conditions for the computational study of flow networks is provided by investigating four major factors such flow pattern, pressure or pressure drop, velocity, and Nusselt number. Flow characteristics of flow networks including flow patterns, pressure or pressure drop, the energy source point and frictional factor are investigated and discussed. Thermal characteristics of flow networks such as isotherm patterns and Nusselt number are also investigated and discussed for both constant wall heat flux and constant wall temperature. Parametric study of Reynolds number, the intersection angle, the constant wall heat flux, the inlet fluid temperature, geometry and the constant wall temperature on the pressure, velocity, local and average Nusselt number are conducted. Simple prediction methods for the friction factor and Nusselt number are proposed and verified. Performance analysis using two parameters, pumping power and heat transfer rate, have shown that flow networks are one of the best heat transfer technology among commonly used advanced heat exchangers. |
