CFD Modelling of Pressure Drop in Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger with Turbulators Using a Porous Media Model

Abstract

A major limitation of Computational Fluid Dynamics application in modelling devices with complex configuration is generating a numerical mesh that can accurately recreate the fluid domain without exceeding available computational power. To simplify the geometry of the impossible to simulate traditionally Pall rings and brush turbulators, the porous media model was implemented. In this research, we simulated the pressure drop in the double-pipe heat exchanger filled with eleven turbulators of different kinds (including: Pall rings, spiral packing, stamped sheet, brush, spring, and twisted tape). The viscous and inertial coefficients of the porous media were calculated for each turbulator and implemented in the calculations. The results were compared with the collected experimental data, which demonstrated the satisfactory accuracy of this approach. It is concluded that the porous media model performs especially well for the brush and spiral packing turbulators.