Numerical simulation of heat exchanger

Accurate and detailed knowledge of the fluid flow field and thermal distribution inside a heat exchanger becomes invaluable as a large, efficient, and reliable unit is sought. This information is needed to provide proper evaluation of the thermal and structural performance characteristics of a heat exchanger. It is to be noted that an analytical prediction method, when properly validated, will greatly reduce the need for model testing, facilitate interpolating and extrapolating test data, aid in optimizing heat-exchanger design and performance, and provide scaling capability. Thus tremendous savings of cost and time are realized. With the advent of large digital computers and advances in the development of computational fluid mechanics, it has become possible to predict analytically, through numerical solution, the conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy for both the shellside and tubeside fluids. The numerical modeling technique will be a valuable, cost-effective design tool for development of advanced heat exchangers.