Dear SimScalers,
in this weeks spotlight we will have a look at a simulation of liquid water flowing through a heat-exchanger by @kcontractor.
This project is aimed at simulating the flow of liquid water super-heated to a temperature of 198° C (471 K) in a heat-exchanger. The primary purpose is to determine the pressure drop across the heat-exchanger and determine the mass flow distribution in the heat-exchanger pipes.
Geometry:
Mesh:
Type: Hex-dominant parametric (Snappy Hex Mesh)
The geometry was uploaded and meshed using the snappyHexMesh tool.
Mesh Information:
Nodes: 5268269
1D elements (edges) 0
2D elements (faces): 15007362
3D elements (volumes): 4923285
Simulation:
Type: Incompressible Fluid Flow Analysis
Simulation Setup:
Simulations Details:
Turbulence Model: k-Omega SST
Steady-state simulation with SIMPLE as a solver.
Material:
Newtonian Fluid: Air
Kinematic viscosity [\frac{m^2}{s}] : 0.000015295
Density [\frac{kg}{m^3}] : 867
Initial Conditions:
Turbulent kinetic energy value [\frac{m^2}{s^2}]: 0.0012
Specific turbulence dissipation rate [\frac{1}{s}]: 12.22
Results:
A qualitative representation of the velocity distribution of the entire pipe-set:
Taking a closer look a the velocity distribution, it can be determined that the mass flow is not evenly distributed across all the pipe sets. This provides a basis for further quantitative analysis.
The two dimensional velocity and pressure distributions are indicative of the pressure drop across the entire heat-exchanger.
Velocity:
Pressure:
Cross-Sectional View:
SimScale project:
To look at the simulation setup, please have a look at the project from @kcontractor :
[Pressure Drop Across a Heat-exchanger due to Flow of Super-heated Water]
To copy this project into your workspace, simply follow the instruction given in the picture below.
\underline{\textbf{Visit our SimWiki by clicking on the picture}}
