CFD Analysis on the Air-Side Thermal-Hydraulic Performance of Multi-Louvered Fin Heat Exchangers at Low Reynolds Numbers

Abstract

The air-side thermal-hydraulic performance of multi-louvered aluminium fin heat exchangers is investigated. A systematic numerical study has been performed to analyze the air-sde thermal hydraulic characteristics over a wide range of Reynolds number i.e., from 30 to 500. Air-side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop were calculated and validated over the mentioned band of Reynolds numbers. The critical Reynolds number was determined numerically; and also the variation of flow pattern along with the air-side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop in a multi-louvered heat exchanger associated with R e c r i has been reported. Moreover, a parametric study of the multi-louvered aluminium fin heat exchangers was also performed for 36 heat exchanger configurations with the louver angles (19–31°); fin pitches (1.0, 1.2, 1.4 mm) and flow depths (16, 20, 24 mm); and the geometric configuration exhibiting the highest air-side heat transfer coefficient was reported. The air-side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop results for different geometrical configurations were presented in terms of Colburn j factor and Fanning friction factor f; as a function of Reynolds number based on louver pitch.