CFD Simulation of the Thermal Performance of a Parallel Counter-Parallel Flow Heat Exchanger for the Treatment of Hypothermia

........................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 4 2.1 Hypothermia .......................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Treatment of Hypothermia .................................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Active Rewarming Methods ............................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 3 CFD BACKGROUND ........................................................................................ 10 3.1 CFD Modeling ....................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 STAR-CCM+ .......................................................................................................................... 10 3.3 General Workflow of CFD Analysis ...................................................................................... 11 3.4 Mathematical Models .......................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 4 DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM GEOMETRY ....................................................... 21 4.1 3D Modeling of the Geometry ............................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER 5 MESHING AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS ...................................................... 24 5.1 Mesh Generation ................................................................................................................. 24 5.1.1 Infusate Region Mesh ................................................................................................... 24 5.1.2 Hot Water Region Mesh ............................................................................................... 30 5.1.3 Wall Region Mesh ......................................................................................................... 34 5.2 Significance of Research....................................................................................................... 36 5.3 Model Description ................................................................................................................ 37 5.4 Boundary Conditions ............................................................................................................ 38 CHAPTER 6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION............................................................................. 45 6.1 Outlet Temperature vs. Heat Exchanger Length .................................................................. 45 6.1.1 Infusate Region ............................................................................................................. 46 6.1.2 Hot Water Region ......................................................................................................... 51 6.2 Outlet Temperature vs. Heat Exchanger Length (Increased Infusate Inlet Flow Rate) ...... 68 6.3 Outlet Temperature vs. Infusate Inlet Flow Rate ................................................................. 76 6.4 Outlet Temperature vs. Infusate Inlet Flow Rate (Increased Infusate Inlet Temperature) . 83 6.5 Determination of Hot Water Region Entrance Length Correlation ..................................... 91 6.5.1 Entrance Length Correlation within the Laminar Regime ............................................ 95