3D CFD fluid flow and thermal analyses of a new design of plate heat exchanger

Abstract

The paper presents a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical study for a new design of a plate heat exchanger with two different fl ow patterns. The impact of geometric characteristics of the two studied geometries of exchanger plates on the intensifi cation process of heat transfer was considered. The velocity, temperature and pressure distributions along the heat exchanger were examined. The CFD results were validated against experimental data and a good agreement was achieved. The results revealed that geometrical arrangement of the plates strongly infl uence the fl uid fl ow. An increase in the Reynolds number led to lowering the friction factor value and increasing the pressure drop. The confi guration II of the plate heat exchanger resulted in lower outlet hot fl uid temperature in comparison with the confi guration I, which means improvement of heat transfer.