Numerical analysis and performance enhancement of compact heat exchanger using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Compact heat exchangers are used in various industries due to its good efficiency and compactness. The fluid used in heat exchanger has significant effect in augmentation of heat transfer characteristics of heat exchangers. In recent years, researchers have shown keen interest in uses of nanofluids for heat exchangers due to its good thermo-physical properties.  The present study explores the application of ZnO /water nanofluid on compact heat exchanger with circular tubes using techniques of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The CAD model is developed in Creo design software and CFD analysis is conducted using ANSYS CFX. The volume concentration of nanoparticles used for analysis are .02,.04 and .07. The CFD analysis is conducted for both laminar and turbulent flow regime using SSG shear stress turbulence model. The temperature distribution, Nusselt number and pressure plots are generated to determine heat transfer characteristics. The results are encouraging, and significant enhancement of heat transfer is achieved using ZnO/water nanofluid. However, the pumping power requirement also increased with increase in nanoparticle concentration.