CFD simulation of Taylor–Couette flow in scraped surface heat exchanger

Abstract

The flow between two concentric cylinders which is termed as Taylor–Couette flow has been studied in scraped surface heat exchanger with and without blades. Shear rate in annular flow with and without blades was measured by Dumont et al. (2000a) using electrochemical method and determined the onset of Taylor vortices at specific Taylor number in both cases for Newtonian flow. CFD simulations have been carried out to determine the transition zone from laminar Couette flow to Taylor vortex flow using the same geometry for which Dumont et al. (2000a) had carried out the experiments. The Reynolds stress model (RSM) and k–ɛ model are used for Taylor vortex flow (Ta>300) to characterize the flow pattern in annular flow and SSHE respectively. The aim of the present work is to analyze the effect of rotating scraper on the existing flow patterns in simple annular flow using CFD simulations.