Numerical investigation of the heat transfer and pressure drop on tube bundle support plates for inline and staggered arrangements

Abstract

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics are investigated numerically on tube bundle support plates for inline and staggered arrangements. Three-dimensional numerical analyses within the framework of unsteady Reynolds averaged numerical simulations are performed using four different turbulence models, namely the realisable k-epsilon, k-omega, SST and transition SST models. In order to reduce the computational effort, simplifications with respect to the domain definition are applied, which were validated within the framework of preliminary studies for assuring accuracy. A constant inlet temperature and a uniform heat flux on the support plates are applied as thermal boundary conditions. The Reynolds number is varied from 989 to 5,550, while keeping the Prandtl number constant at 0.70. The Nusselt number and the pressure drop values are obtained as functions of the Reynolds numbers. The effects of tube bundle arrangements on heat transfer and pressure drop are discussed. Results obtained using different turbulence models are compared with each other and with experiments. The best agreement with the experiments is obtained by the SST model. The least accurate results are provided by the k-epsilon model. The remaining two turbulence models showed an acceptable performance, close to that of the SST model.