Research on the falling film flow and heat transfer characteristics of FLNG spiral wound heat exchanger under sea conditions

As the key equipment of floating liquefied natural gas(FLNG)process,the performance of spiral wound heat exchanger(SWHE)influences operation costs and reliability of the whole system.The sea conditions destroy the falling film flow state of the refrigeration and then affect the heat transfer performance of FLNG SWHE.In order to design and optimize the SWHE,a cryogenic experimental device of FLNG process and a numerical model of falling film flow have been constructed to study the effects of sea conditions on the falling film flow and heat transfer characteristics of SWHE.The cryogenic experimental results show that the pitching conditions have larger effects on the heat transfer performance than yawing.Under the pitching angle of 7°,the natural gas temperature and gaseous refrigerant temperature increase by 3.22°C and 7.42°C,respectively.The flow rates of refrigerant and feed natural gas have a great impact on the heat transfer performance of SWHE under pitching and compound sloshing conditions.When the tilt angle increases to 9°,the tube structure with outer diameter D=8 mm and pipe spacing S=4 mm is recommended to reduce the drying area of the pipe wall surface.

Numerical and experimental study on the falling film flow characteristics with the effect of co-current gas flow in hydrogen liquefaction process

Liquid hydrogen storage and transportation is an effective method for large-scale transportation and utilization of hydrogen energy. Revealing the flow mechanism of cryogenic working fluid is the key to optimize heat exchanger structure and hydrogen liquefaction process(LH2). The methods of cryogenic visualization experiment, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are conducted to study the falling film flow characteristics with the effect of co-current gas flow in LH2spiral wound heat exchanger.The results show that the flow rate of mixed refrigerant has a great influence on liquid film spreading process, falling film flow pattern and heat transfer performance. The liquid film of LH2mixed refrigerant with column flow pattern can not uniformly and completely cover the tube wall surface. As liquid flow rate increases, the falling film flow pattern evolves into sheet-column flow and sheet flow, and liquid film completely covers the surface of tube wall. With the increase of shear effect of gas-phase mixed refrigerant in the same direction, the liquid film gradually becomes unstable, and the flow pattern eventually evolves into a mist flow.

Study on heat transfer for falling liquid film flow with consideration of interfacial evaporation

The interfacial evaporative heat transfer was included in the semi-empirical study of the heat transfer for the falling liquid film flow. The investigations showed that, the inclusion of the interfacial eveiporative heat transfer in the turbulent model would lower the predicted convective heat transfer coefficient. Predictions of the new model resulted in a prominent deviation from that predictions of the normal model in the case of large mass flow rate and low wall heat flux. This deviation will be decreased with increasing wall heat flux, such that it will be asymptotic zero at very high wall heat flux. Predictions of the new model agreed well with the current experimental measurements. This study has verified that the Reynolds number is not the sole crucial parameter for heat transfer of falling liquid film flow, and wall heat flux will be another important independent parameter. This result is consistent with our previous studies.

Effects of tube cross-sectional shapes on flow pattern, liquid film and heat transfer of n-pentane across tube bundles

The heat transfer of hydrocarbon refrigerant across tube bundles have been widely used in refrigeration.Three-dimensional simulation model using volume of fluid(VOF) was presented to study the effects of tube shapes on flow pattern, film thickness and heat transfer of n-pentane across tube bundles, including circle, ellipse-shaped, egg-shaped and cam-shaped tube bundles. Simulation results agree well with experimental data in the literature. The liquid film thickness of sheet flow and heat transfer for different tube shapes were obtained numerically. The flow pattern transition occurs lower vapor quality for ellipse-shaped tube than other tube shapes. For sheet flow, the liquid film on circle tube and ellipseshaped tube is symmetrically distributed along the circumferential direction. However, the liquid film on egg-shaped tube at circumferential angles(θ) = 15°–60° is thicker than θ = 135°–165°. The liquid film on cam tube at θ = 15°–60° is slightly thinner than θ = 135°–165°. The liquid film thickness varies from thinner to thicker for ellipse-shaped, cam-shaped, egg-shape and circle within θ = 15°–60°. The effect of tube shape is insignificant on thin liquid film thickness. Ellipse-shaped tube has largest heat transfer coefficient for sheet flow. In practical engineering, the tube shape could be designed as ellipse to promote heat transfer.

Heat transfer characteristics of molten plastics in a vertical falling film reactor

The heat transfer efficiency during the pyrolysis process is a key factor to be considered in the design of pyrolysis reactors. In this study, the average apparent heat transfer characteristics of molten plastic pyrolysis in a vertical falling film reactor were explored by experiments and numerical simulation and the apparent heat transfer coefficients were determined. In addition, the temperature distribution and the thickness of the liquid film in the reactor were predicted and the influences of pyrolysis temperatures on the average apparent heat transfer coefficients were discussed.

Field synergy analysis of different flow patterns in falling-film dehumidification system with horizontal pipes

Effects of the flow pattern of intertubular liquid film on mass and heat transfer synergies in a falling-film dehumidification system with horizontal pipes are studied.A flow model of the dehumidifying solution between horizontal pipes is established using Fluent software,the rule of transitions of the flow pattern between pipes is studied,critical Reynolds numbers of flow pattern transitions are obtained,and the accuracy of the model is verified by experiments.The mass transfer synergy angle and heat transfer synergy angle are respectively used as evaluation criteria for the mass transfer synergy and heat transfer synergy,and distribution laws of the synergy angles for droplet,droplet columnar and curtain flow patterns are obtained.Simulation results show that the mass transfer synergy angles corresponding to droplet,droplet columnar and curtain flow patterns all rise to a plateau with time.The mean mass-transfer synergy angle is 98°for the droplet flow pattern,higher than 96.5°for the droplet columnar flow pattern and 95°for the curtain flow pattern.The results show that the mass transfer synergy of the droplet flow pattern is better than that of the droplet columnar flow pattern and that of the curtain flow pattern.

Experiment on Effect of Tip Clearance Leakage Flow on Heat Transfer of Turbine Outer Ring

The cascade model was tested using transient liquid crystal temperature measurement technology.The effects of main flow Reynolds number,blowing ratio and tip clearance height on the convective heat transfer coefficient of the turbine outer ring were studied.Two feature lines were marked on the turbine outer ring corresponding to the position of the blade.The conclusions are as follows:The tip clearance leakage flow has a great influence on the convective heat transfer coefficient of the turbine outer ring.When the clearance height and the blowing ratio are kept constant,gradually increasing the main flow Reynolds number will result in an increase in the convective heat transfer coefficient of the turbine outer ring.When the clearance height and the main flow Reynolds number are kept constant and the blowing ratio is gradually increased,the convective heat transfer coefficient of the turbine outer ring is almost constant.The heat transfer coefficient of the turbine outer ring surface is little affected by the blowing ratio;The clearance height has great influence on the heat transfer characteristics of the turbine outer ring.Under the typical working condition in this paper,when the tip clearance height ratio is 1.6%,the convective heat transfer coefficient of the outer surface of the turbine is the highest.

PREDICTION OF HEAT TRANSFER OF AIR-WATER TWO PHASE FLOW IN A SMALL TUBE

Theoretical and experimental study has been performed on heat transfer of airwater two phase laminar annular flow through a uniformly heated vertical small tube. Analysis ascertains that the mechanism of heat transfer is the evaporation of a very thin liquid film attached on the tube wall. The predictions of analytical solutions are quite good compared with the experimental results.

Flow and heat transfer characteristics of falling water film on horizontal circular and non-circular cylinders

This paper presents a two-dimensional CFD study of the falling film evaporation of horizontal tubes with different shapes applied in the seawater desalination. The flow and heat transfer characteristics of the falling water film on one circular tube and two non-circular shaped tubes, a drop-shaped tube and an oval-shaped tube, are analyzed, respectively. The Volume Of Fluid （VOF） method is employed to investigate the influence of the mass flow rate and the feeder height on the distribution of the film thickness and the heat transfer performance. The numerical results show that the minimum value of the film thickness appears approximately at the angular positions of 125~, 160~ and 170~ for the smooth circular, oval- and drop-shaped tubes, respectively.The film thickness grows with the increase of the mass flow rate and the decrease of the feeder height, while the variation pattern varies for different tubes. Moreover, compared with the circular tube, the drop- and oval-shaped tubes have a lower dimensionless temperature and a thinner thermal boundary layer, which means a better heat transfer performance. Finally, the numerical results correlate well with the experimental and predicted data in literature.

Coupled Heat and Mass Transfer Analysis of NH3-H2O Falling Film Absorption on Inner Tube Surface with Low Solution Flow Rates

NH_3-H_2O falling film absorption usually takes place with low solution flow rate in real absorption refrigeration system. An experimental study of inner vertical absorption is carried out for the consideration of air-cooling absorber. Variable working conditions are tested to evaluate the heat and mass transfer performances.The traditional evaluation method based on log-mean-temperature(concentration) difference is criticized for its lack of theoretical basis while simultaneous heat and mass transfer process occurs. A new method proposed by Kim and Infante Ferreira is modified to evaluate the experimental results with reasonable assumptions. The method is based on the derivation of coupled heat and mass transfer differential equations of NH_3-H_2O absorption process.The analysis of the same experimental data shows that the new method realizes better consistency with smaller error, especially in heat transfer aspect. Heat and mass transfer performance is enhanced with the increase of solution Reynolds number. Sub-cooling of inlet weak solution also has positive influence on the absorption process,which should be evaluated by the new method correctly. Two correlations are developed to evaluate both Nusselt and Sherwood numbers for the design of air-cooling absorber.

Flow Visualization of Multi-Hole Film-Cooling Flow under Varying Freestream Turbulence Levels

A flat plate film cooling flow from a multi-exit hole configuration has been numerically simulated using both steady and unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS and URANS) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) formulations. This multi-exit hole concept, the Anti-Vortex Hole (AVH), has been developed and studied by previous research groups and shown to mitigate or counter the vorticity generated by conventional holes resulting in a more attached film cooling layer and higher film cooling effectiveness. The film cooling jets interaction with the free stream flow is a long studied area in gas turbine heat transfer. The present study numerically simulates the jet interaction with the multi-exit hole concept at a high blowing ratio (M = 2.0) and density ratio (DR = 2.0) in order to provide a more detailed, graphical explanation of the improvement in film cooling effectiveness. This paper presents a numerical study of the flow visualization of the interaction of film cooling jets with a subsonic crossflow. The contour plots of adiabatic cooling effectiveness were used to compare the multi-exit hole and conventional single hole configurations. The vortex structures in the flow were analyzed by URANS formulations and the effect of these vortices on the cooling effectiveness was investigated together with the coolant jet lift-off predictions. Quasi-Instantaneous Temperature Isosurface plots are used in the investigations of the effect of turbulence intensity on the cooling effectiveness and coolant jet coverage. The effect of varying turbulence intensity was investigated when analyzing the jets’ interaction with the cross flow and the corresponding temperatures at the wall. The results show that as the turbulence intensity is increased, the cooling flow will stay more attached to the wall and have more pronounced lateral spreading far downstream of the cooling holes.

Influence of liquid film shape on evaporation performance of agitated thin film evaporator

The agitated thin film evaporator(ATFE),which is known for its high efficiency,force the material to form a film through the scraping process of a scraper,followed by evaporation and purification.The complex shape of the liquid film inside the evaporator can significantly affect its evaporation capability.This work explores how change in shape of the liquid films affect the evaporation of the materials with non-Newtonian characteristics,achieved by changing the structure of the scraper.Examining the distribution of circumferential temperature,viscosity,and mass transfer of the flat liquid film shows that the film evaporates rapidly in shear-thinning region.Various wavy liquid films are developed by using shear-thinning theory,emphasizing the flow condition in the thinning area and the factors contributing to the exceptional evaporation capability.Further exploration is conducted on the spread patterns of the wavy liquid film and flat liquid film on the evaporation wall throughout the process.It is noted that breaking the wavy liquid film on the evaporating wall during evaporation is challenging due to its film-forming condition.For which the fundamental causes are demonstrated by acquiring the data regarding the flow rate and temperature of the liquid film.The definitive findings of the analysis reveal a significant improvement in the evaporation capability of the wavy liquid film.This enhancement is attributed to increasing the shear-thinning areas and maintaining the overall shape of the film throughout the entire evaporation process.

Numerical Study on Flow Heat Transfer Characteristics of Horizontal Tube Falling-Film Evaporator

As an efficient and energy-saving heat exchange technology, horizontal tube falling film evaporation has a great application prospect in refrigeration and air conditioning. The three-dimensional models of falling film flow evaporation outside horizontal single tube and inside evaporator were established, and the accuracy of flow and heat transfer simulation process was verified by comparison. For horizontal single tube, the results showed that total heat transfer coefficient was low and increased with larger spray density and evaporation temperature. The thickness of liquid film outside tube decreased gradually with the increase of tube diameter, and the total heat transfer coefficient of small tube diameter was significantly greater than that of the large tube diameter. The total heat transfer coefficient presented an increasing trend with larger liquid distribution height and density. In addition, the fluctuation of tube axial liquid film thickness distribution decreased with larger liquid distribution density. For evaporator, the results indicated that part of liquid refrigerant was carried into the vapor outlet. The temperature of tube wall and fluid presented a gradually rising trend in vertical downward direction, while tube wall temperature within the same horizontal and transverse row had little difference. The high-temperature zone on the outer wall of heat exchange tube moved towards the inlet and gradually decreased, and the outlet temperature of water in the tube also gradually decreased with the increase of refrigerant spray density. The local heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger tube in the vertical direction presented a downward trend which was more obvious with the smaller spray density and it was obviously higher located in the middle of upper tube row and both sides of lower tube row for horizontal tube rows.

Investigation of a falling film tube bank heat exchanger with baffle design for water recovery applications

Shell and tube heat exchangers(STHE)are essential thermal equipment and widely used in daily life.A novel thermosyphon system called falling-film thermosyphon(FFTS)is introduced and integrated into STHE system,resulting in a better thermal performance.In this study,a rectangular solid tube bank of FFTS bundles with a baffle design is studied.The numerical simulation for heat and mass transfer of the FFTS heat exchanger is developed to predict the condensation rate of the vapor in the flue gas,and a lab-scale prototype is also built up in COMSOL.The prediction is validated with the experimental data from references,and the model’s accuracy is verified within 10%-12%error.Also,the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm,version 2(NSGA-II)is implemented to improve the thermal performance of rectangular tube banks in this paper.Several parameters,e.g.,baffle number,tube number,and tube space,are optimized.As a result,compact configurations with more baffles are preferred to enhance the performance associated with a high-pressure drop correspondingly.The optimized layout for the lab-scale prototype can increase by 18 to 32%condensation with a pressure loss of less than 200 Pa.

Numerical Analysis on Heat Transfer Enhancement by Waves on Falling Liquid Film

Numerical simulations have been carried out for two dimensional wavy falling liquid films on a vertical wall. The algorithm of the simulation is based on MAC method and schemes for interfacial boundary conditions are modified. Small artificial perturbations given at the inflow boundary grow rapidly and then the amplitude of the waves approaches to developed waves. Effects of the disturbance frequency on the wave development behavior and heat transfer characteristics are especially investigated. For low frequency, a disturbance wave develops to a solitary wave consisted of a large amplitude roll wave and small amplitude capillary waves. Increasing the frequency, the wave amplitude decreases and the capillary wave disappears. For further high frequency, the disturbance amplitude reduces along down stream. The heat transfer coefficient is enhanced by the surface wave and has a maximum at a certain frequency. The streamlines and the temperature contours are shown for various frequency waves and the heat transfer enhancement mechanism is clarified.

Role of trapped liquid in flow boiling inside micro-porous structures:pore-scale visualization and heat transfer enhancement

Flow boiling is an important heat dissipation method for cooling high heat flux surfaces in many industrial applications.The heat transfer can be further enhanced by using porous media surfaces due to their high specific surface areas.However,although flow boiling in channels is well understood,the phasechange behavior with the additional capillary effect induced by the porous structures is not well understood,and the design of the porous structures is difficult to avoid dryout and over-temperature accidents.A pore-scale lab-on-a-chip method was used here to investigate the flow boiling heat transfer characteristics inside micro-porous structures.The flow patterns,captured in the two-phase region with a uniform pore-throat size of 30 lm,showed that liquid was trapped in the pore-throat structures as both dispersed liquid bridges and liquid films.Moreover,the liquid film was shown to be moving on the wet solid surface by laser-induced fluorescence and particle tracking.A theoretical analysis showed that the capillary pressure difference between adjacent liquid bridges could drive the liquid film flows,which helped maintain the coolant supply in the two-phase region.The pore-throat parameters could be designed to enhance the capillary pressure difference with multiple throat sizes of 10–90 lm which would enhance the heat transfer 5%–10%with a 5%–23%pressure drop reduction.This research provides another method for improving the flow boiling heat transfer through the porous structure design besides changing the surface wettability.

Numerical Study of Heat Transfer Characteristic for Subcooled Falling Film outside the Shaped Tubes under Rolling Motion

The heat transfer performance of spiral wound heat exchanger used in the floating liquefied natural gas(FLNG)may be significantly affected by the sloshing conditions.In this paper,a three-dimensional numerical model combined with the dynamic mesh technology is conducted to study subcooled falling film heat transfer under static and sloshing conditions.The three-dimensional velocity distribution of the liquid film on the shell side is observed.The effects of cross-section shape of heat exchange tubes,Reynolds numbers and sloshing parameters on heat transfer characteristics are analyzed.The results indicate that the heat transfer performance of the egg-shaped tube is superior to that of the elliptical and circular tube under both static and sloshing conditions due to significant heat transfer improvement in the lower half of the tube.The heat transfer coefficients of three different kinds of tubes decrease under sloshing conditions.When the rolling amplitude is 6°,the average heat transfer coefficients of the circular tube,elliptical tube and egg-shaped tube are reduced by 2.1%,3.7%and 4.9%respectively.Under the current sloshing parameters,increasing the rolling amplitude,the heat transfer coefficients of three different tubes are slightly increased,while the sloshing period has little effect on heat transfer.The egg-shaped tube and elliptical tube are greatly affected by sloshing motion at the low Reynolds number,while the effect is relatively small at the high Reynolds number.

水平管降膜换热器性能规律研究进展

水平管降膜换热器具有热质传递效率高、阻力小、结构简单等优点,被广泛应用于化工等传统领域及能源利用的节能减排领域。降膜换热器内部发生复杂的流动及传热传质相互耦合过程。介绍了实验及模拟研究手段的进展,综述了不同操作参数(气体温度、流向及流量,溶液流量、温度及浓度,内部媒介流量及温度等)与结构参数(管径、管间距等)对水平管降膜管间流型、液膜厚度与润湿性等流动特性的影响规律,以及对蒸发传热特性、吸收传热传质特性等换热器性能的影响规律,包括整体性能和局部微细特征,为水平管降膜换热器的性能优化提供理论支撑。指出在不同气流特征以及多因素相互作用下多维度的局部流动与传热传质性能的耦合影响规律以及强化换热手段会是水平管降膜换热器未来研究的重点方向。

板管型降膜式蒸发器换热特性数值模拟

降膜式蒸发器兼有满液式蒸发器换热效果好及干式蒸发器制冷剂充灌量小的特点。对板管型降膜式蒸发器进行了数值模拟,得出了其在使用R410A为制冷工质时,条缝宽度、喷淋密度及板面温度对蒸发器换热性能的影响。结果表明,当工质入口条缝宽度为1.5mm时,板面的液膜覆盖率及换热系数最大,条缝宽度小于或大于1.5mm时,板面的液膜覆盖率及换热系数均有所降低;板面的液膜覆盖率及其换热系数随着液膜雷诺数的增加而增加,但当液膜雷诺数达到10000以上时,增加幅度明显减小并趋于零;板片温度升高可以增强蒸发器的换热性能,但雷诺数较小时的影响很小,只有雷诺数足够大时板片温度的影响才得到明显的体现。

高雷诺数下洗涤冷却管内垂直环状降膜流动传热

为了研究高雷诺数(R_(e)=1.81×10^(4)~4.23×10^(4))下洗涤冷却管内降液膜的传热特性与机理,对管内液膜厚度分布与传热过程进行模拟计算。研究结果表明,槽缝宽度与液膜Re越大,液膜越厚;液相出口温度随壁面温度而上升,最大传热系数约为3.7×10^(3)W·(m^(2)·K)^(-1);传热系数随进口温度上升而下降,最大传热系数约为8.3×10^(3)·W(m^(2)·K)^(-1);液膜Re的增加使传热系数上升,最大传热系数约为9.4×10^(3)W·(m^(2)·K)^(-1);表征传热系数h+与液膜Re近似于正比例关系;通过研究气液两相传热发现,传热过程在液膜入口段0~0.1 m处最剧烈;传热系数随气相温度上升而先升高后降低,最大传热系数约为899 W×(m^(2)·K)^(-1);计算数据与试验关联式的最小误差约在10%之内。