Modeling of multiphase flow in an air-cooling system using the CFD-FSCA approach

Abstract

The deposition of crystallized ammonium salt particles presents serious damage to the hydrogenation reactor effluent air cooler (REAC) in petrochemical engineering. The correlation technology process was analyzed for predicting the particle deposition situation in air coolers. Moreover, the particle crystallization and deposition were revealed, and a mathematical model for flow field simulation was established by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In addition, the fast search clustering algorithm (FSCA) realized in Matlab software was applied to detect tube anomaly. The relatively greater risk of deposition or blockage in the tube area was detected, and this finding is consistent with the distribution of the surface temperature field in air coolers. Meanwhile, good qualitative agreement was found between the distribution rule of particle deposition rate as simulated by CFD and the situation of opened header box on the spot. Therefore, the combined method of CFD simulation and FSCA detection can be utilized for predicting the condition of particle deposition in the air-cooling systems.