Two-phase flows across tube bundles are very commonly found in industrial heat exchange equipment such as shell and tube heat exchangers. However, recent studies published in the literature are generally performed on devices where the flow crosses the tube bundle in only a vertical or horizontal direction, lacking geometrical fidelity with industrial models, and the majority of them use air and water as the working fluids. Also, currently, experimental approaches and simulations are based on very simplified models. This paper reports the simulation of a laboratory full-scale tube bundle with a combination of vertical and horizontal flows and with two different baffle configurations. Also, it presents a similarity analysis to evaluate the influence of changing the fluids to hydrogen and diesel in the operational conditions of the hydrotreating. The volume of fluid (VOF) approach is used as the interface phenomena are very important. The air/water simulations show good agreement with classical correlations and are able to show the stratified behavior of the flow in the horizontal regions and the intermittent flow in the vertical regions. Also, the two baffle configurations are compared in terms of volume fraction and streamlines. When dealing with hydrogen/diesel flow using correlations and maps made for air/water, superficial velocity is recommended as similarity variable when a better prediction of the pressure drop is needed, and the modified superficial velocity is recommended for prediction of the volume-average void fraction and the outlet superficial void fraction.
On the other end, here in Uberlândia, are all the friends made at the MFLab. Some of them helped me by sitting with me and discussing ideas and equations, other by teaching me how to use a software, and others just by getting my mind off the study and taking a cup of coffee or a glass of beer with me. It is fulfilling to be able to make such good friends away from home. Also here, I found two teachers who increased my desire for knowledge and taught me to be a better student and researcher, Profs. Francisco and Aristeu. On the financial side, I cannot forget to mention the support from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the full scholarship during this four years of research, and also to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Petrobras. A researcher can only dream that his work may affect society in some way that more people start to see research budget as investment. And at last, I surely also have a lot to thank to all the staff at the Federal University of Uberlândia, at the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program, and at the MFLab. "Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labor in every country of the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children. Thus do we mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things which we create in common." (Albert Einstein, The World As I See It) "Inventions are, above all, the result of stubborn work, in which there must be no room for discouragement."
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