Solution strategies for finite elements and finite volumes methods applied to flow and heat transfer problem in U-shaped geothermal exchangers

Abstract

Matter of this paper is the study of the flow and the corresponding heat transfer in a U-shaped heat exchanger. We propose a mathematical model that is formulated as a forced convection problem for incompressible and Newtonian fluids and results in the unsteady Navier-Stokes problem. In order to get a solution, we discretise the equations with both the Finite Elements Method and the Finite Volumes Method. These procedures give rise to a non-symmetric indefinite quadratic system of equations. Thus, three regularisation techniques are proposed to make approximations effective and ideas to compare their results are provided