Numerical study on the effect of corrugation angle on thermal performance of cross corrugated plate heat exchangers

Abstract

In the present work, the single-phase thermohydraulic performance of a cross-corrugated plate heat exchanger (PHE) with different corrugation angles 30°≤β≤80° is studied numerically. A three-dimensional numerical model using the finite volume method is developed and validated assuming laminar and turbulent flows in the Reynolds number range of 400–10000. The two-equation k-ω SST model is employed to analyse the turbulent flows in the PHE. It is found that for all the configurations of the PHEs, the pressure drop per unit length increases with the Reynolds number and the corrugation angle. The friction factor of the PHE with β = 80°–80° is higher by a maximum of 2.8 times than that of the flat PHE. The Nusselt number is found to be higher in the corrugated PHE as compared to that of the flat plate PHE. The Nusselt number is increased by a maximum of 3 times for the PHE with β = 80°–80° than that of the flat PHE. Further, single phase generalized correlations of Nusselt number with Reynolds number, geometrical parameters of the cross-corrugated plate heat exchanger and fluid properties are developed for high cross-corrugated angles and a wide range of Prandtl numbers within a maximum accuracy of 40%.