Thermal Performance Analysis of Corrugated Triple Concentric Pipe Heat Exchanger (TCHE) Using ANSYS Fluent

Coarsening surfaces can improve the thermal performance of heat exchangers by increasing fluid mixing and turbulence levels of the fluid flow. Corrugated tubes are one example of the coarsening surface method, and they can be categorized into two primary types: inward concave corrugated tubes and outward convex corrugated tubes. The study aims to analyze the thermal performance of a corrugated triple concentric-tube heat exchanger (TCHE). Twenty-seven (27) different corrugated tube geometries were designed and modeled using Autodesk Fusion 360 and were simulated using ANSYS Fluent through turbulence modeling via Realizable k-epsilon Model. The simulation was observed to generate data regarding the key thermal performance parameters such as the Nusselt Number, Friction Factor, Effectiveness, and Thermal Performance Factor. The results showed that the use of corrugated pipes is significant to enhance the Nusselt Number and the performance of the triple concentric pipe heat exchanger. Moreover, the Concave-Convex-Convex (Case Q) arrangement achieved peak thermal performance in the study. The specific geometry yields high performance due to the arrangement of corrugation in the heat exchangers. The specific geometry displayed the highest increase in Nusselt Number with a range of 100.78–106.75%. Geometry also achieved the highest thermal performance factor out of the twenty-seven cases that ranges from 0.9503–1.1803.