Numerical and optimization study of turbulent water-copper nanofluid flow in a heat exchanger in power plant with conical rings: Investigating conical ring hole diameter's influence

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical investigation of turbulent nanofluid flow in a power plant heat exchanger using conical rings. In this paper focus on varying conical ring hole diameters and their impact on key parameters. Utilizing artificial intelligence techniques, the finite element method (FEM), and the RNG k-epsilon model, analyzed pressure drop, thermal entropy, frictional entropy, and total entropy while varying distances between turbulators (80 mm to 180 mm) and turbulator lengths (45 mm to 60 mm). The results show that the smallest turbulator length and diameter, with an inter-turbulator distance of 145 mm, generate the highest frictional entropy (72 % increase). Smaller distances between turbulators with larger turbulator dimensions result in the smallest pressure drop. Increasing hole diameter significantly reduces thermal (98.7 %), frictional (72.5 %), and total entropy (98.5 %). These findings offer insights for optimizing power plant heat exchanger design using nanofluids and conical turbulators.