Parametric Study on Flow and Heat Transfer Performance of Multi-Flow Spiral-Wound Heat Exchanger

Abstract

The multi-flow spiral-wound heat exchangers are widely used in industrial applications, but the mechanism of flow and heat transfer has not been clarified yet. A three-dimensional model is developed based on the FLUENT software in this study. The effects of different geometrical factors, such as the space bar thickness and the tube pitch in the first layer, on flow and heat transfer performance are numerical studied. It is found that as the space bar thickness increases, the Nusselt number and the pressure loss per unit length both decreases and the similar trend is obtained as the tube pitch increases. Meanwhile, once the geometrical factors and the Reynolds number in the tube-side are determined, the Nusselt number and pressure loss per unit length in the tube-side keep constant generally, regardless of the change of Reynolds number in the shell-side.