A novel approach of treating near-compact heat exchangers (NCHX) (surface to volume ratio, with hydraulic diameter ) as a “global” porous media, whose thermohydraulic performance is being influenced by the presence of “local” tube-to-tube porous medium interconnectors, connecting the in-line arrangement of tubes having square pitch of , is investigated in this study using numerical methods. The thermohydraulics of the global porous media (NCHX) are characterized by studying the effect of transverse thickness and permeability (represented by ) of the local metal foam type porous medium interconnectors on the global heat transfer coefficient (Nu) and nondimensional pressure drop . The fluid transport in the porous medium interconnectors is governed by the Brinkman–Darcy flow model while the volume averaged energy equation is used to model energy transport, with the tube walls kept at constant temperature and exchanging heat with the cooling fluid having under laminar flow . For the chosen NCHX configuration, and Nu increases for an increase in Re and also with an increase in the thickness of the interconnecting porous medium. However, as the local Darcy number of the interconnecting porous medium increases, the decreases but the Nu increases. Treating the heat exchanger as a global porous media this result translates to an increase in the and Nu as the global permeability (represented by ) decreases, where the decrease in is because of either an increase in or a decrease in . Separate correlations predicting and Nu as a function of Re and (which in turn is correlated to and ) have been developed for the chosen NCHX configuration, both of which predict the numerical data with accuracy.
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Porous Medium Interconnector Effects on the Thermohydraulics of Near-Compact Heat Exchangers Treated as Porous Media
K. Sumithra Raju,
K. Sumithra Raju
Ph.D. Student
Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600036, India
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Arunn Narasimhan
Arunn Narasimhan
Assistant Professor
Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: arunn@iitm.ac.in
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600036, India
Search for other works by this author on:
K. Sumithra Raju
Ph.D. Student
Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600036, India
Arunn Narasimhan
Assistant Professor
Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600036, Indiae-mail: arunn@iitm.ac.in
J. Heat Transfer. Mar 2007, 129(3): 273-281 (9 pages)
Published Online: June 5, 2006
Article history
Received:
November 7, 2005
Revised:
June 5, 2006
Citation
Raju, K. S., and Narasimhan, A. (June 5, 2006). "Porous Medium Interconnector Effects on the Thermohydraulics of Near-Compact Heat Exchangers Treated as Porous Media." ASME. J. Heat Transfer. March 2007; 129(3): 273–281. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2427074
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