Influence of flow non-uniformity on the dynamic behaviour of three-fluid cross-flow compact heat exchanger

The flow uniformity at any cross-section along the flow is highly influenced due to different practical limitations such as improper header/distributor design, manufacturing defect etc. Hence, the compact three-fluid heat exchanger with cross-flow arrangement is numerically investigated with non-uniform flow at the entrance of central fluid for four feasible flow arrangements (C-1,C-2,C-3,C-4) for turbulent flow regime. The experiments are conducted to validate the numerical solutions obtained from Implicit Finite Difference scheme. The dynamic response of the cross-flow three-fluid heat exchanger is analysed with step and sinusoidal perturbation at the entry and both the cooling and heating efficacy of the heat exchanger is discussed. The model is made more realistic by incorporating the dispersive axial heat conduction effect within the fluids as well as at the inlet section of heat exchanger (Dankwert's boundary condition) and wall longitudinal heat conduction in the conducting walls. Four cases of flow non-uniformity (P, Q, R and S), which resemble the most realistic and possible case of non-uniform flow in the heat exchangers are selected for present study. It is learnt that case P and case Q offers the maximum and the minimum augmentation or deterioration in the efficacy of heat exchanger when non-uniform flow exists only in central fluid. The impact of flow non-uniformity on the performance of heat exchanger is more significant in turbulent flow regime than laminar. The analysis is further extended for the flow non-uniformity in all the three fluid streams simultaneously and for certain combinational case of U (uniform flow), P and Q. It is found that flow non-uniformity drastically affects the heat exchanger's efficacy and the upshot of axial dispersion causes more deterioration in the thermal performance than that by longitudinal heat conduction.