Shell and Helical Tube Heat Exchanger CFD Simulation, ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

This simulation is about a shell and helical tube heat exchanger via ANSYS Fluent software.

The helical heat exchanger consists of several coils (tubes or helical tubes) with spring-like curves placed inside a cylindrical chamber called a shell. Several spirals are usually used instead of one. But many helical heat exchangers use only one helix to increase heat transfer.

The working principle of a helical heat exchanger is similar to that of a conventional shell and tube heat exchanger. The only difference between the two heat exchangers is the optimal use of space in the helical heat exchangers.

This project investigates the heat transfer between two hot and cold working fluids inside a helical heat exchanger. The hot fluid enters the computational zone with a mass flow rate of 0.05 kg/s and a temperature of 313K. The cold fluid enters the helical tubes with a mass flow rate of 0.0333 kg/s and a temperature of 289 K.

The geometry of the present model is drawn by Design Modeler software. The model is then meshed by ANSYS Meshing software. The model mesh is unstructured, and 1796590 cells have been created.

shell and helical tube Methodology

In this simulation, the energy model is activated because the main goal of this project is to investigate heat transfer in the heat exchanger. The model consists of two parts, cold and hot.

The use of a wall between these two parts is known as the heat transfer boundary. Heat transfer can be modeled using the coupled boundary condition for this wall.

shell and helical tube Conclusion

After simulation, the contours of temperature, velocity, and pressure are obtained. We can also get the temperature of the cold flow (one of the two hot and cold flows) at the outlet and inlet, equal to 308.04 K and 289 K, respectively.

Then, based on the formula, we get the value of the heat transfer rate. Now we compare this calculated value (2651.65 W) with the value obtained from the fluent calculation (2998.19 W). The percentage of comparison error is equal to 1%.