STG-21 Computational Simulation of Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer, and Temperature-induced Mechanical Stress in a Shell-and-tube Heat Exchanger

K. J. Farrell

2017

We completed a multiphysics computational simulation of a shell-and-tube exchanger, where simultaneous fluid flow and heat transfer of both fluid streams occurred. Temperature-induced mechanical stress also acted on the solid structures. A weak coupling of a finite-volume CFD Navier-Stokes model with a finite-element computational solid mechanics model underlies the multiphysics simulation. We describe this fluid-structure interaction in some detail and compare the thermal-hydraulic results to Xist. This new calculation method is ready to apply to a number of industry problems.