Numerical investigation of turbulent forced convection heat transfer in pillow plates

In this study, turbulent single-phase flow in pillow plates was investigated using CFD. The results for pressure loss and heat transfer coefficients were successfully validated against our own experiments. The simulations show that the flow in pillow plates is characterized by two distinct regions, namely a meandering core, which dominates heat transfer, and recirculation zones, which occur in the wake of the welding spots. The influence of the pillow-plate geometry on their thermo-hydraulic performance was also investigated, and the most favorable designs were identified. Based on the simulated flow field simple geometrical improvements are proposed, which significantly improve the thermo-hydraulic performance of pillow plates.