CCB 3033

Advanced Transport Process

January 2015 Semester
CFD SIMULATION OF HEAT EXCHANGE
EQUIPMENT
GROUP 4
MEMBERS:

Name

ID

KANAPATHY A/L MOHANAN

18672

CHEN SWEE KEAT

18604

AZLAN BIN RAMALI

18645

Due Date

: 17 April 2015
1

Table of contents
No

Title

Page

1.

Introduction about heat exchanger

3-5

2.

Governing Equations and Simulation Method

6-8

3.

Flow Regime in Heat exchanger

4.

Heat Transfer Coefficient

10-13

5.

Result & Discussion

14-23

1. Geometry
2. Velocity and temperature contours
3. Profile and others

6.

Conclusions

24

7.

References

25

Introduction about Heat Exchanger

2

The technology of heating and cooling systems is one of the common areas in
engineering. Whenever fluids are required to be heated up or cooled down, heat
exchanger will be the desired equipment to achieve the objective. In general, they
are used to heat and cool buildings, vehicles, food process industry and chemical
plants. In a heat exchanger, heat energy is transferred from one fluid stream to
another stream. In designing heat exchanger, heat transfer equations are applied to
calculate the amount of energy transfer.
There are 3 different primary categories of heat exchangers in accordance to
their flow arrangement namely parallel-flow, countercurrent-flow and cross-flow. In
parallel-flow heat exchangers, two fluids will enter the exchanger at the same end
and travel in parallel way until another end (exit). However, for countercurrent heat
exchanger, the fluids will enter the exchanger from opposite ends. The directions of
both fluids will be opposing each other in this case. This type of heat exchanger has
the highest efficiency in terms of heat transfer. And for cross-flow heat exchanger,
the fluids basically travel perpendicular to each other through the exchanger.
Heat exchangers are designed in such a way that it maximizes the wall
surface area while minimising resistance to fluid flow through the heat exchanger.
The performance of an exchanger also can be affected by the addition of fins or
corrugations, thereby increasing the surface area and may channel fluid flow or
induce turbulence.
The driving temperature across the heat transfer surface area varies with
positions, however a mean temperature called Log Mean Temperature Difference
(LMTD) can be defined. Other than finding the heat transfer through LMTD, NTU
method can also be used.

Fig 1: Temperature differences between hot and cold process streams

3

Fig 2: Types of heat exchangers (a) concentric-tube parallel-flow; (b)

concentrictube counter-flow; (c) shell-and-tube; and (d) cross flow.
Types of Heat Exchangers
Double-pipe exchanger: One of the simplest and cheapest types of heat
exchanger. It has simple concentric pipe arrangement, made up from standard
fittings and useful where only a small heat-transfer surface area is needed.
Shell and tube exchanger: It is one of the most common equipment found in all
plants especially chemical plants. The configuration gives a large surface area in
a small volume. It can be constructed from a wide range of materials. In
addition, cleaning of this type of exchanger is easy. It has well established
design procedures. It contains on One Shell Pass and One Tube Pass.
Plate-fin exchanger: Consists of plates separated by corrugated sheets, which
form the fins. It has a large surface area, compact and is low weight.
Plate heat exchanger

Advantages

Disadvantages
4

Easier to maintain
More flexible
Low approach temperature
Attractive when material costs
are high

The selection of a suitable

gasket is critical
Maximum operating
temperature is limited up to
about 250C (gasket materials
limitation)
Not suitable for pressures
greater than about 30 bar

Air cooled heat exchanger: Air cooling heat exchanger usually becomes the best
choice for minimum process temperature above 65C. It consists of banks of
finned tubes over which air is blown or drawn.
Direct contact heat exchanger: Hot and cold streams are brought into contact
without any separating wall. Example of this type of heat exchanger is watercooling towers. It can achieve high rates of heat transfer and suitable for use
with heavily fouling fluids and liquids containing solids.
Fired heater: It is used when high flow rates and high temperatures are needed.
The hired heater is directly heated by the products of combustion of a fuel.

Governing Equations
The governing equations for fluid flow and heat transfer are the NavierStokes or momentum equations and the First Law of Thermodynamics or
energy equation. The governing pdes can be written as :
Continuity equation:

The two source terms in the momentum equations, S and SDR, are for
distributed resistances and rotating coordinates, respectively. The distributed
resistance term can be written in general as:

f
V 2i
d
C n V i
2

Ki+
S DR =

where i refer to the global coordinate direction (u, v, w momentum equation),

f- friction factor, d- hydraulic diameter, C permeability and the other factors
are descripted in table 1. Note that the K-factor term can operate on a single
momentum equation at a time because each direction has its own unique Kfactor.
The other two resistance types operate equally on each momentum
equation. The other source term is for rotating flow. This term can be written
in general as:

S =2 i V i i i r i

where i refer to the global coordinate direction, is the rotational speed and
r is the distance from the axis of rotation. For incompressible and subsonic
compressible flow, the energy equation is written in terms of static
temperature:

The variables from these equations are defined in Table 1.

Variable Description
cp specific heat at constant pressure
k thermal conductivity
p pressure
qV volumetric heat source
T temperature
t time
u velocity component in x-direction
v velocity component in y-direction
w velocity component in z-direction
density
dynamic viscosity

Variable Description
cp specific heat at constant pressure
k thermal conductivity
p pressure
qV volumetric heat source
T temperature
t time
u velocity component in x-direction
v velocity component in y-direction
w velocity component in z-direction
density
dynamic viscosity

The equations describe the fluid flow and heat transfer under steady-state
conditions for Cartesian geometries. For the turbulent flow, the solution of
these equations would require a great deal of finite elements (on the order of
106 108) even for a simple geometry as well as near infinitesimal time
steps. COSMOS/Flow solves the time-averaged governing equations. The
time-averaged equations are obtained by assuming that the dependent
variables can be represented as a superposition of a mean value and a
fluctuating value, where the fluctuation is about the mean[2]. For example,
the velocity component in y-direction can be written:
V =V + v ,[m/s ]

where V [m/s] the mean velicity, v [m/s] the fluctuation about the mean.
This representation is introduced into the governing equations and the
equations themselves are averaged over time.

Simulation Method
In COSMOS/Flow, the finite element method is used to reduce the
governing partial differential equations (pdes) to a set of algebraic
equations.The role of finite element method in numerical simulation is shown
in figure 3. The dependent variables are represented by polynomial shape
functions over a small area or volume (element). These representations are
substituted into the governing pdes and then the weighted integral of these
equations over the element is taken where the weight function is chosen to
be the same as the shape function. The result is a set of algebraic equations
for the dependent variable at discrete points or nodes on every element.

FLOW REGIME IN HEAT EXCHANGER

Flow regime can be determined from the Reynolds number.
Reynolds number = Inertia force/ Viscous force
(vL)/
Where = density of the fluid
v = velocity of the fluid
L = Length of the fluid inlet
= dynamic Viscosity of the fluid
[999.9(kg/m3)*2.22*105(m/s)*0.05(m)] / [0.896*103]pa.s
1.23, which is in the limit of Laminar flow.
Hence, the flow regime can be considered as Laminar Flow.

18672

18604

18645

10

Heat Transfer Coefficient

Heat transfer
Temperature at
coefficient,h
point 8 (K)
(W/m2K)
1
302.6944
2
307.7513
3
312.6847
3.5
315.0586
4
317.3965
5
321.9145
A. For student ID 18672

Temperature
at point 14 (K)
317.5145
331.2459
342.4121
347.3362
352.013
360.6896

Average
temperature,T
avg (K)
310.10445
319.4986
327.5484
331.1974
334.70475
341.30205

Ideal
Temperature, T2
(K)
331
331
331
331
331
331

Graph of Average Temperature against Heat Transfer Coefficient

350
340
330
Average Temperature (K)

f(x) = 7.79x + 303.38

R = 0.99

320

Linear ()

310
300
290
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Heat Transfer Coefficient (W/mK)

Fig 3: Graph of Tavg against h for student (ID: 18672)

11

Tempe
Differ
(K
20.89
11.5
3.45
0.19
3.70
10.30

Graph of Temperature Difference against Heat Transfer Coefficient

25
20
15

Temperature Difference (K)

10
5
0
0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

5.5

Heat Transfer Coefficient (W/mK)

Fig 4: Graph of Temperature difference against h for student (ID: 18672)

Note: at ideal temperature, T = 58C = 331K ; h = 3.5 W/m 2K
B. For student ID 18604

Heat transfer
coefficient,h
(W/m2K)

Temperature
at point 8 (K)

1
2
4
5
6

300.5271
302.8229
308.9857
312.1671
315.2617

Temperature
at point 14 (K)

Average
temperature,T
(K)

Ideal
Temperature,
T2 (K)

318.2091
331.9321
352.0383
360.2818
367.6061

309.3681
317.3775
330.512
336.22445
341.4339

331.15
331.15
331.15
331.15
331.15

Temperatu
re
Difference
(K)
21.7819
13.7725
0.638
5.07445
10.2839

12

Fig 5: Graph of Tavg against h for student (ID: 18604)

Graph of Temperature Difference against Heat Transfer Coefficient

25

20

15

Temperature Difference (K)

10

Heat Transfer Coefficient (W/mK)

Fig 6: Graph of Temperature difference against h for student (ID: 18604)

13

Note: at ideal temperature, T = 58C = 331K ; h = 4.1 W/m 2K

Heat transfer
coefficient,h
(W/m2K)
1
2
3
4
4.5

Temperature
Average
at point 14
temperature,T
(K)
(K)
302.6366
316.6454
309.641
307.2754
329.0949
318.18515
311.5715
338.8142
325.19285
315.5709
346.7758
331.17335
317.4275
350.2717
333.8496
C. For student ID 18645

Temperature
at point 8 (K)

Ideal
Temperatur
e (K)
331
331
331
331
331

Temperature
Difference (K)
21.359
12.81485
5.80715
0.17335
2.8496

Fig 7: Graph of Tavg against h for student (ID: 18645)

Graph of Temperature Difference against Heat Transfer Coefficient

25
20
15

Temperature Difference (K) 10

5
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Heat Transfer Coefficient (W/mK)

14

Fig 8: Graph of Temperature difference against h for student (ID: 18645)

Note: at T = 58C = 331K , h = 4.0 W/m2K

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

ID: 18672; X = 0.14, Y = 0.1

Figure 1. Geometry

Figure 3. Temperature profile

(thermal view)

Figure 2. Mesh

Figure 4. Temperature profile

(rainbow view)

15

Figure 5. Velocity
profile (z
component)

Figure 6. Outlet temperature

surface

16

Figure 7. Temperature plot

isosurface

Figure 8. Line
graph at different z
Figure 8. Temperature
distribution
position

17

Figure 9. Relationship between heat transfer coefficient and T2

Figure 10. Trial and error process to determine heat transfer coefficient
18

ID: 18604; X = 0.22, Y = 0.1

Figure 1. Geometry

Figure 3. Temperature profile

(thermal view)

Figure 5. Velocity
profile (z
component)

Figure 2. Mesh

Figure 4. Temperature profile

(rainbow view)

Figure 6. Outlet temperature

surface
19

Figure 7. Temperature plot

isosurface

Figure 8. Temperature
Figure 8. distribution
Line graph at different z
position
20

Figure 9. Relationship between heat transfer coefficient and T2

Figure 10. Trial and error process to determine heat transfer coefficient
21

ID: 18645; X = 0.06, Y = 0.12

Figure 1. Geometry

Figure 3. Temperature profile

(thermal view)

Figure 5. Velocity
profile (z
component)

Figure 2. Mesh

Figure 4. Temperature profile

(rainbow view)

Figure 6. Outlet temperature

surface

22

Figure 7. Temperature plot

isosurface

Figure 8. Temperature distribution at different z

position

23

Figure 9. Relationship between heat transfer coefficient and T2

Figure 10. Trial and error process to determine heat transfer coefficient
24

Discussion
From the model which is considered for the present heat exchange in
mixing system simulation in COMSOL Multiphysics, we can observe the inlet
and outlet from which the flow enters and exits the domain. Considered
model is a 2-Dimensional axis symmetric geometry heat exchanger.
From the figure that represents the mesh generation for the
considered geometry, we can say that the free triangular mesh has been
generated. For getting a better accuracy in the results, finer mesh has been
generated. We can also observe that the mesh is very fine near the area
where the heat flux generation occurs. As it is a 2-Dimensional geometry,
efforts were made to perform a simple discretization throughout the domain.
From this is mesh, It is hoped that the considered momentum and energy
governing Navier-Stokes can be easily solved. The quality for the generated
mesh for the considered geometry is around 92%. . From the figure, we can
say that the free triangular mesh created has obtained a good efficient mesh
quality, from the range, maximum domain covers the mesh quality with
around 0.96. The minimum quality of the domain is obtained as 0.82. This
means, mesh quality is above 82%. For achieving this quality, finer mesh has
been generated. We can also observe that very less regions stay in the
quality of 0.82 and most of the domain stays in above 0.9 quality. As it is a 2Dimensional geometry, obtaining a mesh quality with above 85% is may not
be challenging, still near the area of curvature, this geometry has achieved a
better mesh quality.
From the figure that represents the temperature profile for the
considered geometry, we can say that the free triangular mesh created has
obtained a good efficient result, from the temperature range displayed;
maximum temperature is obtained near the heat flux generation region. With
respect to the flow, the temperature has a fluctuating profile and reaches the
outlet with 331K. As no inlet temperature is specified, simulation is
performed with the initial and operating conditions. Therefore, we can
observe a temperature of 300K near the inlet. Then, gradually, heat flux is
released which makes the temperature profile to rise till 454K and gradually
decrease till the outlet. The accuracy of the temperature profile plot is
because of the good mesh quality. We can see the heat flux generated near
the circular domains. As a much finer mesh is generated in that region,
temperature profile is accurately predicted.
From the figure that represents the Velocity profile for the considered
geometry, we can say that the free triangular mesh created has obtained a
good efficient result, from the velocity range displayed; maximum Velocity is
obtained near the inlet and it gradually decreased due to the fluctuations in
the geometry. After achieving a uniform flow, the velocity raised and headed
to a high velocity near the outlet.
25

From the calculations performed, the flow regime is said to be laminar

flow. Hence, the velocity throughout the domain is between 0 to 1 m/s. With
respect to the flow, the velocity is zero near the walls which follows the no
slip condition.
As at inlet, velocity is specified as 0.07[m/min], i.e. 0.0012 m/s, it represents
the same near inlet and then, due to the flow fluctuations, it decreased and
then increased accordingly.

Conclusion
In this study, three basic questions regarding conduction, convection,
and radiation are solved successfully. As a foundation, the part of theoretical
methods benefit on analyzing and solving. The project offers solutions of the
three questions. By this means, it can understand how to analyze and to
solve the problems on heat transfer. Furthermore, we can apply Comsol
Multiphysics software to solve three questions. Comparing the results from
the theoretical method with Comsol Multiphysics software, it has been
proved that Comsol Multiphgysics software can offer accurate analysis.
Meanwhile, it is a very efficient tool for solving heat transfer problem,
especially for those completed problems.
When we compare the three different types of x (in meter) which is
0.14,0.12 and 0.06 given to us to build the heat exchanger, we found that
increase in the length of x (in meter) results in decrease of overall
temperature of the heat exchanger. This can be seen on the surface
temperature profile in results part. Moreover, decrease in x value, makes the
velocity streamline flows easily, shown on the Streamline Velocity field. In
addition, the outlet temperature surface shows higher temperature when x
value (in meter) is greater.
Besides, when we look at the temperature distribution curve for all the
three x values, we can see that x = 0.06 gives a more consistent curve with
less oscillations compare to the other two values. This shows that the heat
exchanger with x = 0.06 has a stable temperature distribution. Therefore, it
is the best heat exchanger design among the three.

26

References

27