Flow and Heat Transfer in Narrow Channels with Corrugated Walls

In an effort to obtain information on the local flow structure inside compact heat exchangers made of corrugated plates, a commercial CFD code (CFX®) is employed to simulate the flow through an element of this type of equipment. For simplicity, the channel used for the simulation is formed by only one corrugated plate, while the other plate is flat. A two-equation turbulence model (SST) is used for the calculations and, in addition to isothermal flow, heat transfer simulations are conducted for a Reynolds number range (400-1400), for the case of hot water (60°C) in contact with a constant-temperature wall (20°C). The results, presented in terms of friction factor, wall shear stress, wall heat flux and local Nusselt numbers, are consistent with the description of the fluid motion inside similar conduits by other investigators. The calculated mean heat transfer coefficients and friction factors are found to be in reasonable agreement with the limited published experimental data.