Porous-medium modelling for CFD simulation of perforated plate heat exchangers for cryogenic applications

Abstract A porous-medium modelling for CFD simulation of perforated plate heat exchangers (PPHEs) is attempted in this work. Porous media modelling in a PPHE is complicated because of the orientation of holes (inline or shifted) in successive plates interspersed by spacers. Correlations for the permeability of the plate and the Forchheimer coefficients, required for the source term in the momentum equation, are developed from the reported data of PPHEs as functions of geometry and fluid flow conditions. Thermal modelling is done by using the local thermal equilibrium (LTE) approach. The model is developed in Ansys-FluentTM platform and validated by comparing the results with the experimental data reported in the literature. Model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data.