A new developed semi-full-scale approach to facilitate the CFD simulation of shell and tube heat exchangers

The full-scale CFD simulations may not be recommended in preliminary steps of STHEs' design and sen-sitivity analyses because of heavy computations. This work benefits from the sequential geometry repe-titions in STHEs and presents a new semi-full-scale approach, which alleviates the need for full-scale simulation of STHEs. This approach first isolates the smallest zone, say block, which is sequentially repeated in the STHE domain. Second, this block is carefully simulated considering various thermal and flow working conditions. Third, the data collected from these CFD simulations are used to generate the required thermal and flow correlations for the chosen block at various working conditions. Fourth, the proposed performances are suitably assembled to calculate/study/rate/design one STHE considering all proposed conditions. Generally, the results of semi-full-scale simulation approach show great agreement with both experimental data and analytical calculations. The developed approach can be readily used to facilitate the CFD simulation of large STHEs. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study introduces a new semi-full-scale approach that reduces the need for full-scale simulation of STHEs by isolating and carefully simulating the smallest repeated block in the STHE domain, demonstrating good agreement with experimental data and analytical calculations.