Periodic Flow Simulation and Heat Transfer Analysis Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (cfd)

Many heat transfer applications, such as steam generators in a boiler or air cooling in the coil of an air conditioner, can be modelled in a bank of tubes containing a flowing fluid at one temperature that is immersed in a second fluid in a cross flow at different temperature. CFD simulations are a useful tool for understanding flow and heat transfer principles as well as for modelling these type of geometries Both fluids considered in the present study are water, and flow is classified as laminar and steady, with Reynolds number between 100-600.The mass flow rate of the cross flow and diameter is been varied (such as 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30 kg/sec) and the models are used to predict the flow and temperature fields that result from convective heat transfer. Due to symmetry of the tube bank and the periodicity of the flow inherent in the tube bank geometry, only a portion of the geometry will be modelled and with symmetry applied to the outer boundaries. The inflow boundary will be redefined as a periodic zone and the outflow boundary is defined as the shadow. In the present paper tubes of different diameters and different mass flow rates are considered to examine the optimal flow distribution. Further the problem has been subjected to effect of materials used for tubes manufacturing on heat transfer rate. Materials considered are aluminium which is used widely for manufacture of tubes, copper and alloys.