The flow characteristics of inline and staggered cylinders placed in a fin tube heat exchanger model are experimentally investigated for Reynolds numbers of 1500 and 4000, having a duct height to cylinder diameter ratio of 0.4. In this study, the Reynolds number is calculated based on the cylinder diameter. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is studied to obtain instantaneous representations of the non-steady flow for a specified flow field. Time-averaged flow data clearly indicates that flow through semi-cylinders has a substantial effect on the turbulent flow characteristics. A variation of time-averaged flow data along a specific line is also presented graphically. The flow interactions in the streamwise and cross-stream bases of the staggered cylinders with a flat plate surface result in a three-dimensional and a complex flow behaviour.
The most widely utilized process of produced water treatment is considered to be use of coalescing or corrugated plate systems in the oil industry because these systems have promising results in the acceleration of the separation process. Even use of corrugated plate systems seem to be effective in separation processes, the geometrical parameters of the plate system could greatly influence the performance of separation process. In this study, a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model for coalescing plates was developed to investigate Reynolds number and plate hole shape on separation efficiency. Spacing between plates was set to 12 mm while fluid mixture's Reynolds number varied between 5 and 45 for the computational model. Hole profile and dimensions were determined to be cylindrical, rectangular and ellipse shapes as 10, 15 and 20 mm based on hydraulic diameter definition, respectively. Furthermore, when hole profiles of coalescing plates were chosen to be ellipse and rectangular shapes, separation efficiency nearly stayed constant regardless of hole dimension. The study also reported that change of oil fraction from 5% to 15% caused approximately 30% increase in the separation efficiency. The investigation also revealed Reynolds number of the mixture was inversely proportional to the separation efficiency. It was also found that the highest separation efficiency was obtained for a cylindrical shape with a hole diameter of 15 mm when distance between plates was 12 mm and Reynolds number was 18.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and heat transfer simulations are conducted for a novel heat exchanger. The heat exchanger consists of semi-circle cross-sectioned tubes that create narrow slots oriented in the streamwise direction. Numerical simulations are conducted for Reynolds numbers (Re) ranging from 700 to 30,000. Three-dimensional turbulent flows and heat transfer characteristics in the tube bank region are modeled by the k-e Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method. The flow structure predicted by the two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations is compared against that observed by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) for Re of 1500 and 4000. The adequate agreement between the predicted and observed flow characteristics validates the numerical method and the turbulent model employed here. The three-dimensional and the twodimensional steady flow simulations are compared to determine the effects of the wall on the flow structure. The wall influences the spatial structure of the vortices formed in the wake of the tubes and near the exit of the slots. The heat transfer coefficient of the slotted tubes improved by more than 40% compare to the traditional nonslotted tubes.
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