Numerical modelling of a heat exchanger with heat tubes and experimental validation

On the basis of the developed mathematical model describing the ongoing processes in a heat exchanger with heat pipes a numerical modelling is carried out in order to obtain the temperature and velocity fields of the heat carrier and the heated fluid. In the present study the heat carrier is flue gas and the heated fluid is water. The numerical modelling is carried out by the commercial CFD software SolidWorks – Flow Simulation. Numerical results regarding the heat pipes pattern – corridor and staggered, have been obtained. The obtained numerical results were compared with experimental data collected from an operating heat exchanger with finned tubes thermosiphons. A good agreement between the numerical and experimental results is observed.