NUMERICAL STUDY OF THERMOHYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE IN HEAT EXCHANGER WITH CONICAL TUBES INSERTS AND CU-WATER NANOFLUID

Abstract

This study aims to improve the heat transfer performance of heat exchangers significantly by increasing the turbulence zone and the flow vortices via in-pipe equipment. The Transition k-kl-omega model was selected as the turbulence model to simulate the thermohydraulic performance of incomplete conical equipment when Re is set between 5000 and 15000. Cu-Water is considered to be the base fluid. The accuracy of the simulation results has been demonstrated by comparing them with experimental formulas and existing experimental results. In this study, a numerical simulation was used to examine the effect of geometric factors of the in-pipe equipment and the volume fraction of nanoparticles on its thermal-hydraulic performance. It was demonstrated that heat transfer capacity in pipes with new inlet pipes is increased more than in conventional circular pipes. In the absence of nanoparticles, the optimal conditions were found for Re = 15000, S = 1, n = 0, in which case the Nusselt number was 314.04, and the coefficient of friction was 6.56. Accordingly, the new tube has a significant performance potential, increasing the Nusselt number by about three times that of the smooth tube.