Numerical Simulation of Condensation Heat Transfer in Shell Side of Double Inlet Condenser

Abstract

The object of this research is a double inlet condenser, which is designed by optimizing and revamping the traditional surface-type condenser. In this paper, firstly, a mathematical model was established to describe the process of heat transfer in the condenser. Secondly, according to the structure and the operating parameters of double inlet condenser, a full three-dimensional numerical simulation was performed on the double inlet condenser by using Fluent software to obtain the spatial distribution of the important parameters in the shell side of the condenser. Finally, a series of numerical simulations were carried out by control variable method in order to study the effect of various factors, such as inlet water temperature, main and auxiliary steam flow and fouling thickness inside the pipe wall, on the flow and heat transfer in the double inlet condenser. The result is as follows. 1)There are the positive pressure zone and the negative pressure zone in the shell side of the condenser; 2) The pressure shows a mountain-type distribution along the axial direction of the cooling water pipe. 3) There is no obvious whirlpool zone and steam short circuit zone in the double inlet condenser, which shows that the structure design of the condenser is reasonable.