Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer Analysis for a Novel Heat Exchanger

Computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer simulations are conducted for a novel shell-tube type heat exchanger. The heat exchanger consists of tube with a narrow slot oriented in the stream-wise direction. Numerical simulations are conducted for the Reynolds number from 700 to 6000. The 3D turbulent flow in the tube bank region is modeled by k-ϵ Reynolds stress averaging method by employing ANSYS FLUENT. 3-D and 2-D transient flow and heat transfer simulations are compared to determine the effects of wall on the flow structure. The wall influence the spatial structure of the vortices formed in the wake of tubes and near the exit of slots. The flow structure predicted and observed is compared. The agreement between the predicted 3-D flow structure and PIV flow visualization results verifies the numerical method and the turbulent model employed here. The slotted tube heat exchanger improved heat transfer by more than 50% compare to the traditional shell-tube heat exchanger without slots.