Numerical investigation on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of tube-bundle precooler based on the multi-layer grid Superposition method

IF 5.4 3区工程技术 Q2 ENERGY & FUELS

Thermal Science and Engineering Progress Pub Date : 2025-09-10 DOI:10.1016/j.tsep.2025.104090

Xingguo Wei , Zhenhua Wang , Xiao Yu , Meng Zhao , Yu Feng , Shuai Xu , Jiang Qin

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Abstract

The investigation into compact tubular precoolers is vital for improving precooled air-breathing engines. This study introduces a novel three-dimensional numerical simulation method tailored for annular tube bundle precoolers, focusing on simplification while maintaining high accuracy. By leveraging circumferential and axial periodicity, the precooler is discretized into the minimal periodic heat transfer unit (MPHTU), which serves as the fundamental building block for the computational grid. The MPHTU is meshed once, then repeated and stacked to construct the full-scale grid, requiring adjustments only to spatial data. Validation of this method comes from its close agreement with experimental results from the precooler module. Simulations revealed that the wall boundary layer significantly intensifies heat transfer within the near-wall MPHTU by up to 50.7 %, accompanied by an increase in the flow resistance by 98.2 %. Yet, this effect is limited to the first three MPHTUs. Analysis showed that at least five stacked MPHTUs are needed to properly account for the wall boundary layer’s influence on airflow and heat exchange. Moreover, increasing the air inlet Reynolds number reduces heat transfer non-uniformities caused by the wall boundary layer, decreasing the required number of stacked MPHTUs. Considering these findings, and in light of the overall flow and heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger, this study establishes an optimal grid construction and numerical simplification method for the annular tube bundle precooler. The method enhances the efficiency of multidimensional simulations for precooler heat exchangers under the constraints of constructing complex cross-scale grids and managing large computational loads.

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基于多层网格叠加法的管束式预冷器流动传热特性数值研究

研究紧凑型管式预冷器对改进吸气式预冷发动机具有重要意义。针对环管束预冷器的特点，提出了一种新颖的三维数值模拟方法，在简化的同时保持了较高的精度。通过利用周向和轴向的周期性，预冷器被离散成最小周期传热单元（MPHTU），作为计算网格的基本构件。MPHTU网格划分一次，然后重复和堆叠以构建全尺寸网格，只需要对空间数据进行调整。该方法与预冷器模块的实验结果吻合较好，验证了该方法的有效性。模拟结果表明，壁面边界层显著增强了近壁面MPHTU内的换热，传热强度提高了50.7%，流动阻力增加了98.2%。然而，这种影响仅限于前三个mphtu。分析表明，要充分考虑壁面边界层对气流和换热的影响，至少需要5个层叠的mphtu。此外，增加进气雷诺数减少了壁面边界层引起的换热不均匀性，减少了所需的堆叠mphtu数量。综合以上研究结果，结合换热器整体流动和换热特性，建立了环形管束预冷器的优化网格结构和数值简化方法。该方法提高了预冷器换热器在构建复杂跨尺度网格和管理大量计算负荷约束下的多维模拟效率。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Thermal Science and Engineering Progress Chemical Engineering-Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

10.40%

发文量

327

审稿时长

41 days

期刊介绍： Thermal Science and Engineering Progress (TSEP) publishes original, high-quality research articles that span activities ranging from fundamental scientific research and discussion of the more controversial thermodynamic theories, to developments in thermal engineering that are in many instances examples of the way scientists and engineers are addressing the challenges facing a growing population – smart cities and global warming – maximising thermodynamic efficiencies and minimising all heat losses. It is intended that these will be of current relevance and interest to industry, academia and other practitioners. It is evident that many specialised journals in thermal and, to some extent, in fluid disciplines tend to focus on topics that can be classified as fundamental in nature, or are ‘applied’ and near-market. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress will bridge the gap between these two areas, allowing authors to make an easy choice, should they or a journal editor feel that their papers are ‘out of scope’ when considering other journals. The range of topics covered by Thermal Science and Engineering Progress addresses the rapid rate of development being made in thermal transfer processes as they affect traditional fields, and important growth in the topical research areas of aerospace, thermal biological and medical systems, electronics and nano-technologies, renewable energy systems, food production (including agriculture), and the need to minimise man-made thermal impacts on climate change. Review articles on appropriate topics for TSEP are encouraged, although until TSEP is fully established, these will be limited in number. Before submitting such articles, please contact one of the Editors, or a member of the Editorial Advisory Board with an outline of your proposal and your expertise in the area of your review.