Analysis of Heat Transfer Performance in a Brayton Cycle Recuperator

Thermodynamic cycles are currently the most wanted means of converting nuclear power into available work due to the higher conversion efficiencies provided. Rankine cycles have been greatly applied for terrestrial reactors and nuclear submarines, while a lot of space projects have been using Brayton cycles for power conversion mainly due to mitigation in power-to-radiator area ratio. Regenerative Brayton cycles can present a considerable power conversion efficiency improvement when compared to the regular ones because of a reduction on the power demand from the hot heat exchanger of a cycle to achieve the same net output power. In this work, a cross-flow heat exchanger with He-Xe (40 g/mol) working fluid and Inconel 617 structural material used as the recuperator for the closed Brayton cycle of a nuclear reactor applicable for space systems is assessed in terms of heat transfer performance. The recuperator tubes are arranged in a staggered distribution around the exchanger axis. The matrix of tubes has a fixed count of 4 rows along the exchanger axis, while the number of tubes around the axis is variable, where the samples of 5, 7, 9, 12 and 16 are tested. The characteristic curves of heat transfer rate, effectiveness, convection coefficient and Colburn factor are built for each of the studied geometries in function of the Reynolds number. The obtained values for each of these parameters range between 1892.49 and 8493.21W (heat transfer rate), 0.165 and 0.325 (effectiveness), 60.3822 and 176.9682 W/m2K (cold side convection coefficient), 30.3276 and 104.3263 W/m2K (hot side convection coefficient), 0.0071 and 0.0109 (cold side Colburn factor), 0.0523 and 0.1370 (hot side Colburn factor).

Assessment of vortex generator shapes for enhancing thermohydraulic performance of fluid flow in a channel equipped with perforated chevron plate-fin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate thermohydraulic characteristics of turbulent flow of water (4,000 = Re = 10,000) in a rectangular channel equipped with perforated chevron plat-fin (PCPF) with different vortex generators (VGs) shapes. Design/methodology/approach First, three general shapes of VGs including rectangular, triangular and half circle, are compared to each other. Then, the various shapes of rectangular VGs, (horizontal, vertical and square) and triangular VGs, (forward, backward and symmetric) are evaluated. To comprehensively evaluate the thermohydraulic performance of the PCPF with various VG shapes, the relationship between the Colburn factor and the friction factor (j/f) is presented, then a performance index (η) is applied using these factors. Findings Results show that the enhanced models of the PCPF, which are equipped with VGs, have higher values of j/f ratio and η as compared with the reference model (R). Further, the half-circle VG with the lowest pressure drop values (about 2.4% and 4.9%, averagely as compared with the S and ST vortex generators), shows the highest thermohydraulic performance among the proposed shapes. The maximum of performance index of 1.14 is found for the HC vortex generator at Re = 4,000. It is also found that the square and forward triangular VGs, have the best thermohydraulic performance among the rectangular and triangular VGs respectively and the highest performance index of 1.13 and 1.11 are reported for these VGs. Originality/value The thermohydraulic performance of the PCPF with different vortex generators VGs shapes have been investigated.

A Three-Dimensional Numerical and Multi-Objective Optimal Design of Wavy Plate-Fins Heat Exchangers

This paper presents a method for optimizing wavy plate-fin heat exchangers accurately and efficiently. It combines CFD simulation, Radical Basis Functions (RBF) with multi-objective optimization to improve the performance. The optimization of the Colburn factor j and the friction coefficient f is regarded as a multi-objective optimization problem, due to the existence of two contradictory goals. The approximation model was obtained by Radical Basis Functions, and the shape of the heat exchanger was optimized by multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The optimization results showed that j increased by 17.62% and f decreased by 20.76%, indicating that the heat exchange efficiency was significantly enhanced and the fluid structure resistance reduced. Then, from the aspects of field synergy and tubulence energy, the performance advantage of the optimized structure was further confirmed.

Thermal-Hydraulic Performance and Optimization of Tube Ellipticity in a Plate Fin-And-Tube Heat Exchanger

The flow field inside the heat exchangers is associated with maximum heat transfer and minimum pressure drop. Designing a heat exchanger and employing various techniques to enhance its overall performance has been widely investigated and is still an active research. The application of elliptic tube is an effective alternative to circular tube which can reduce the pressure drop significantly. In this study, numerical simulation and optimization of variable tube ellipticity is studied. The three-dimensional numerical analysis and a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) with surrogate modeling are performed. Tubes in staggered arrangement in fin-and-tube heat exchanger are investigated for combination of various elliptic ratios and Reynolds numbers. Results show that increasing elliptic ratio increases the friction factor due to increased flow blocking area, however, the effect on the Colburn factor is not significant. Moreover, tube with lower elliptic ratio followed by higher elliptic ratio tube has better thermal-hydraulic performance. To achieve the best overall performance, the Pareto optimal strategy is adopted for which the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results, artificial neural network (ANN), and MOGA are combined. The tubes elliptic ratio and Reynolds number are the design variables. The objective functions include Colburn factor (j) and friction factor (f). The CFD results are input into ANN model. Once the ANN is computed, it is then used to estimate the model responses as a function of inputs. The final trained ANN is used to drive the MOGA to obtain the Pareto optimal solution. The optimal values of these parameters are finally presented.

Thermal-Hydraulic Performance and Optimization of Tube Ellipticity in a Plate Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

The flow field inside the heat exchangers is associated with maximum heat transfer and minimum pressure drop. Designing a compact heat exchanger and employing various techniques to enhance its overall performance has been widely investigated and still an active research field. However, few researches deal with thermal optimization. The application of elliptic tube is an effective alternative to circular tube which can reduce the pressure drop significantly. In this study, numerical simulation and optimization of variable tube ellipticity is studied at low Reynolds numbers. The three-dimensional numerical analysis and a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) with surrogate modelling is performed. Two row tubes in staggered arrangement in fin-and-tube heat exchanger is investigated for combination of various elliptic ratio (e = minor axis/major axis) and Reynolds number. Tube elliptic ratio ranges from 0.2 to 1 and Reynolds number ranges from 150 to 750. The tube perimeters are kept constant while changing the elliptic ratio. The numerical model is derived based on continuum flow approach and steady-state conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy. The flow is assumed as incompressible and laminar due to low inlet velocity. Results are presented in the form of Colburn factor, friction factor, temperature contours and streamline contours. Results show that increasing elliptic ratio increases the friction factor due increased flow blocking area, however, the effect on the Colburn factor is not significant. Moreover, tube with lower elliptic ratio followed by higher elliptic ratio tube has better thermal-hydraulic performance. To achieve maximum heat transfer enhancement and minimum pressure drop, the Pareto optimal strategy is adopted for which the CFD results, Artificial neural network (ANN) and MOGA are combined. The tubes elliptic ratio (0.2 ⩽ e ⩽ 1.0) and Reynolds number (150 ⩽ Re ⩽ 750) are the design variables. The objective functions include Colburn factor (j) and friction factor (f). The CFD results are input into ANN model. Once the ANN is computed and its accuracy is checked, it is then used to estimate the model responses as a function of inputs. The final trained ANN is then used to drive the MOGA to obtain the Pareto optimal solution. The optimal values of these parameters are finally presented.