CFD SIMULATION OF THE HEAT TRANSFER PROCESS IN A CHEVRON PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER USING THE SST TURBULENCE MODEL

Abstract

This paper deals with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the heat transfer process during turbulent hot water flow between two chevron plates in a plate heat exchanger. A three-dimensional model with the simplified geometry of two cross-corrugated channels provided by chevron plates, taking into account the inlet and outlet ports, has been designed for the numerical study. The numerical model was based on the shear-stress transport (SST) k-! model. The basic characteristics of the heat exchanger, as values of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop, have been investigated. A comparative analysis of analytical calculation results, based on experimental data obtained from literature, and of the results obtained by numerical simulation, has been carried out. The coefficients and the exponents in the design equations for the considered plates have been arranged by using simulation results. The influence on the main flow parameters of the corrugation inclination angle relative to the flow direction has been taken into account. An analysis of the temperature distribution across the plates has been carried out, and it has shown the presence of zones with higher heat losses and low fluid flow intensity.