Workshop 5 Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

ANSYS Mechanical Heat Transfer

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-1

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Problem Description

Training Manual

An aluminum section of fin and tube heat exchanger is to be analyzed. Since the model represents an axially symmetric structure, a 90 section will be modeled. The tube carries a hot fluid while the exterior surfaces experience a convective condition. It has been determined that the fluid causes a wall temperature of 200 C at the entrance and 150 C wall temperature at the exit. We will use a function load to apply this temperature

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-2

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Units Setup

Training Manual

Open Workbench and specify the unit system (Metric, kg, mm, s, C, mA, N, mV). Choose to Display Values in Project Units.

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WS 5-3

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Model Setup
1. From the Workbench project page toolbox, select a Steady State Thermal analysis system.

Training Manual

2. Right click the Geometry cell and import geometry Fin_Tube_WS5.x_t. 3. Double click the Engineering Data cell.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-4

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Model Setup
4. Highlight the General Materials library and add Aluminum Alloy to the current project.

Training Manual

5. Double click the Model cell to open the Mechanical application.

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WS 5-5

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Preprocessing
6. Expand the Model branch and highlight the part FinTube. 7. In the details change the material assignment to Aluminum Alloy.

Training Manual

A check in engineering data will confirm the aluminums thermal conductivity property is temperature dependent.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-6

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Preprocessing
8. Highlight the mesh branch. 9. Select the 2 symmetry faces, RMB > Insert > Sizing.

Training Manual

10. Set Element Size to 2 mm.

11. Highlight the mesh branch, RMB > Generate Mesh.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-7

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Preprocessing
When complete, inspect the resulting mesh.

Training Manual

Note, if desired you may mesh without the size control for comparison. The default mesh is quite coarse for this model.

Size Controlled Mesh

Default Mesh

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-8

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Preprocessing
12. Highlight the Steady State Thermal branch. 13. Highlight the interior wall of the tube section, RMB > Insert > Temperature.

Training Manual

14. In the details for the temperature load change the magnitude field from Constant to Function. 15. Enter the function in the magnitude field:
1. 200 0.25*y

16. Specify a range from 0 to 200

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. August 2009 Inventory #002667

WS 5-9

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Preprocessing
Make sure surface select mode is active. 17. In the graphics window, RMB > Select All. 18. Use the control key and unselect the interior, ends and symmetry faces of the fin tube model (5 faces in all).
When finished you should have 33 faces selected.

Training Manual

19. RMB > Insert > Convection.

Continued . . .

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-10

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Preprocessing
20. Change the magnitude field to Tabular (Temperature). 21. Enter Ambient Temperature = 30 C 22. Enter the coefficient values shown in the convection table.

Training Manual

Temperature C 0 10 20 40 60 100

H (W/mm2*C) 0.004 0.0054 0.006 0.0066 0.007 0.0077

Convection Coefficient h(T)

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WS 5-11

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Solution
23. Solve:

Training Manual

Although there are temperature dependent materials and boundary conditions, the output shows that the solution converges quickly (2 iterations).

24. Highlight the Temperature and Convection loads and drag and drop them into the Solution branch:
This is a shortcut to setting up reaction probes for boundary conditions.

25. Evaluate All Results.

A check of reactions shows good

agreement between input and output heat.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-12

August 2009 Inventory #002667

Workshop 5 - Fin Tube Heat Exchanger

Postprocessing

Training Manual

26. Insert a temperature result and evaluate. Note the temperature variation along the Y direction.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 5-13

August 2009 Inventory #002667