CFD Study on the Air-Side Thermohydraulic Performance of Microchannel Heat Exchanger

This study presents 3-D CFD simulations of multilouvered fin and flat tube heat exchangers to estimate the air-side heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics with variation of Reynolds numbers. The heat transfer coefficients and friction factors weredetermined from the simulation results. The distributions of velocity and temperature are illustrated through the air-side louver geometries. The heat transfer and flow friction characteristics of the exchanger are calculated in terms of the Colburn j factor and the Fanning friction f-factor. The results are compared with the experimental data. The results indicate that CFD simulation can be used as an effective tool for understanding the fundamental thermal-hydraulic phenomena and predicting performance of multi-louvered fin and flat tube heat exchangers.

Keywords:

Compact heat exchanger , Heat transfer , Pressure drop , Computational fluid dynamics