Exergetic simulation and performance assessment of 1–1 shell and tube heat exchangers

Abstract

The scope of this work is to apply exergetic simulation and performance investigation of 1–1 shell and tube heat exchanger using COMSOL Multiphysics simulation programme. Applying simulation to energy-intensive systems has great importance before the design phase as it gives the engineers the possibility to avoid energy loss and increase efficiency before constructing the device and experimenting it. Since the modelling and optimization is essential for better performance in thermal systems by including detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multiphysics, a broad parametric study is applied considering the operating parameters of inlet flow rates and temperatures of the fluids. Three-dimensional (3D) results for temperature, velocity and pressure profile for each case are determined and evaluated in a finely meshed structure. The results showed that the exergy destruction is minimized in high shell-side velocity temperature and low tube-side velocity temperature.