Spiral Heat Exchanger CFD Simulation, ANSYS Fluent CFD Simulation Training

The present problem concerns the simulation of a spiral heat exchanger by ANSYS Fluent software. In this spiral path, two paths for cold water and hot water are used so that the temperature difference between the two water flows causes heat transfer. The hot flow enters the central part of the heat exchanger and exits the heat exchanger environment (laterally) in a perpendicular direction to the inlet area, while the cold current has the opposite direction of the hot stream and enters the heat exchanger environment (laterally) and exits from the central part of the heat exchanger in a direction perpendicular to the input path. The coil plates are embedded between two hot and cold flow paths made of steel with a thickness of 0.01 m. The exterior wall of the model is also made of steel.

Assumption

There are several assumptions used for the present simulation:

The simulation is Steady-State, and the solver is Pressure-Based. Also, the Earth's gravity effect on the model is considered equal to 9.81 kg.s-1.

Geometry & Mesh (Spiral Heat Exchanger)

The 3-D geometry of the present model (spiral heat exchanger) is designed by the Design Modeler software. The geometry of the present model consists of a cylinder with a separating plate inside the cylinder, which creates two separate spaces for hot and cold fluid flow. Similarly, for each of the two spaces created, an inlet and an outlet cross-section determine the route of the inlet and outlet flow, and their structure is such that the inlet and outlet flow paths are perpendicular to each other. The meshing of the present model is done by ICEM software. The mesh was unstructured and the element number was 450631.

Spiral Heat Exchanger CFD Simulation

Summaries of the problem definition and problem-solving steps are presented in the table: