CFD analysis of Metallic Foam-Filled Triple Tube Concentric Heat Exchanger

Abstract

Aim: To enhance the heat transfer rate using metal foams. The performance of Triple tube coaxial heat exchanger is evaluated using CFD simulation technique for different mass-flow rates, where the flow pattern is kept counter-current. A metal foam is placed in the inner annulus of the middle pipe. Water is used as a working fluid in all the tubes but their temperatures were kept different for heat transfer to take place. Hot water flowing through the middle pipe transfers the heat to the fluids flowing through the other pipes due to the temperature difference but in this case the amount of heat transferred is more compared to that in plain tube due to the addition of aluminum foam. For middle pipe in which foam is placed, the temperature and pressure drops are plotted for the hot water against the mass flow rates both for with and without foam conditions. Results shows that the temperature drop decreases with the increase in mass flow rate whereas the pressure drop increases with the increase in mass-flow rate. The noticeable content of the report is that, the temperature and pressure drop in tube with foam was more compared to that in tube without foam.
DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.150511