Chevron Angle Effect on Plate and Shell Heat Exchangers Measured with Particle Tracking Velocimetry

Abstract

The effect of the Chevron angle on inner flow structures within plate and shell heat exchangers (PSHE) has been determined for low, intermediate, and high pressure drop channels. Local flow statistics within PSHE channels have been quantified by experiments at Reynolds number 3450 in transparent test sections with 15/15°, 15/45° and 45/45° Chevron angles with the aid of particle tracking velocimetry. Velocity vectors projected onto the channel frontal view derived by straightforward interpolations of consecutive positions of a particle trajectory have been found to yield the mean flow characteristics. Particle trajectories at low Chevron angles resemble longitudinal wavy flow, whereas they preferentially follow the corrugation direction in angles higher than 45°. For the 15/45° configuration, there is lack of symmetry regarding the vertical velocity component about the heat exchanger central plane. Flow recirculation characterizes the outlet, and its intensity increases with decreasing Chevron angles. The ratios of Fanning friction factors for 15/15° and 15/45°, and for 15/15° and 45/45° are 1.35 and 2.24, respectively. The non-uniform velocity field across the PSHE channel affects the Nusselt number homogeneity. For channels with 45/45° Chevron angles, it can be 80% higher than the average Nusselt number at the channel center, whereas it can be 80% lower near the channel boundaries.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to FAPESC, CAPES, CNPq and PETROBRAS S.A. for supporting this research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leonel Beckedorff

Leonel Beckedorff received his M.Sc. in mechanical engineering and sciences from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil in 2020. He is currently a doctoral student in the mechanical engineering department at UFSC. He is part of the research group Thermal Fluid Flow Group/UFSC. His main research interests are heat exchangers, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer.

Giovani S. M. Martins

Giovani S. M. Martins is a doctoral student in the mechanical engineering department, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil. He received his M.Sc. in mechanical engineering and sciences from UFSC in 2020. His fields of interest are structural analysis and fatigue life of heat exchangers, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer.

Kleber V. de Paiva

Kleber V. de Paiva is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mobility Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Joinville, Brazil. He received his doctoral degree in 2011 and his M.Sc. in 2007, both in thermal sciences and engineering. He is the leader of the research group Thermal Fluid Flow Group/UFSC and collaborates with the Embedded Systems Group/UFSC. He has experience in the development of compact heat exchangers, heat pipes, and thermosyphons. His interests include heat transfer, thermodynamics, aerospace engineering, and fluid mechanics.

Amir. A. M. Oliveira

Amir A. M. de Oliveira Jr graduated in Mechanical Engineering at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil (1989). He got a Masters in the Postgraduate Program of Mechanical Engineering at UFSC (1993) and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA (1998). He is currently a Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UFSC. He has experience in the fields of transport and energy phenomena with an emphasis on problems involving heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, and combustion.

Jorge L. G. Oliveira

Jorge L. G. Oliveira received his bachelor’s diploma in mechanical engineering in 2004. From 2006 to 2007 he studied M.Sc. in fluid mechanics at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, with final work focused on the prediction of mass flow rates of two-phase mixtures. In 2008 he started a Ph.D. project in the Process Technology group at the Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands) under the supervision of Prof. van der Geld. In the Ph.D., he worked with 3D-PTV of particle-laden flows. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Marine Engineering Department). He is the researcher-leader of the Thermal Fluid Flow Group at UFSC.