Transient behavior of a plate-fin-and-tube heat exchanger taking into account different heat transfer coefficients on the individual tube rows

Abstract

Plate-fin and tube heat exchangers (PFTHE) are made of round, elliptical, oval or flat tubes to which continuous fins ( lamellas) are attached. Liquid flows inside the tubes and gas flows outside the tubes perpendicularly to their axes and parallel to the surface of continuous fins. Experimental studies of multi-row plate-fin and tube heat exchangers show that the highest average heat transfer coefficient on the air side occurs in the first row of tubes when the air velocity in front of the exchanger is less than approximately 3.5 m/s when a Reynolds number based on an equivalent hydraulic diameter equal to the distance between tube rows in the direction of air flow is less than 10,000. In the subsequent rows of tubes up to about the fourth row the heat transfer coefficient decreases. In the fifth and further rows, it can, that the heat transfer coefficient is equal in each tube row. It is necessary to find the relationships for the air-side Nusselt number on each tube row to design a PFTHE with the appropriate number of tube rows. The air-side Nusselt number correlations can be determined experimentally or by CFD modeling (Computational and Fluid Dynamics). The paper presents a new mathematical model of the transient operation of PFTHE, considering that the Nusselt numbers on the air side of individual tube rows are different. The heat transfer coefficient on an analyzed tube row was determined from the equality condition of mass- average air temperature differences on a given tube row determined using the analytical formula and CFD modeling. The results of numerical modeling were compared with the results of the experiments.