CFD Method and Simulations on a Section of a Detailed Multi-Louvered Fin where the Incoming Air is Directed at 90° and 30° Relative to the Compact Heat-Exchanger
Journal article, 2013

This paper presents results and a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method for simulation of a detailed louvered fin for a multi-louvered compact heat-exchanger. The airflow was angled at 90°, +30° and -30° relative to the heat-exchanger to evaluate changes in static pressure drop and airflow characteristics. The investigation was based on three heat-exchangers with thicknesses of 52mm and two of 19mm. One period of a detailed louvered fin was simulated for two airflows for each heat-exchanger. The pressure drop data was thereafter compared to experimental data from a full-size heat-exchanger. From the pressure drop and the airflow characteristic results recommendations were made that those kinds of simulations could be defined as steady state, and with the kω-SST turbulence model. For the same heat-exchanger angle the airflow within the core was similar, with a turbulent characteristic behind it. The static pressure drop was reduced significantly for the ±30° cases compared to the 90° angled heat-exchanger to approximately one third, when comparing for the same mass airflow rates. Since the test section area was defined as constant the velocity through the heat-exchanger core varied for the 90° and the 30° cases. When comparing the core velocity it was observed that there were minor losses due to the redirection of the airflow for the 30° angle compared to the 90° case. The results showed that the 30° case, where the inlet airflow was parallel to the louvers, had a higher pressure drop than the other 30° case. It was also observed that even when the inlet airflow angle varied, the outlet airflow angle from the heat-exchanger only varied 4.3-6.4°.

Author

Lisa Henriksson

Chalmers, Applied Mechanics, Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems

Erik Dahl

Volvo Group

Peter Gullberg

Volvo Group

Lennart Löfdahl

Chalmers, Applied Mechanics, Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems

SAE Technical Papers

01487191 (ISSN) 26883627 (eISSN)

Vol. 9

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Areas of Advance

Transport

Subject Categories

Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics

DOI

10.4271/2013-01-2417

More information

Latest update

11/30/2023