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Abstract
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The development of new heat exchanger designs is always changing. Companies are constantly innovating to meet customer needs in terms of thermal efficiency, reliability, and serviceability. In this thesis, the implementation of a groove in a corrugated plate heat exchanger pattern to increase thermal efficiency will be investigated. Computational fluid dynamics will be used to model heat transfer, pressure drop, and thermal efficiency through the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model and a large eddy simulation (LES). This study not only provides insight into the flow behavior in the channels of a concave heat exchanger, but also demonstrates the importance of using the correct turbulence model for a given problem. The flow dynamics in a concave plate heat exchanger are complex, and a RANS model is not sufficient to accurately describe the velocity field. In this regard, LES performs better and the LES simulation result is more reliable than the RANS results.
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